Seeds of Mana
by Truewind
Summary: Chapter TwentyOne: Gilder's Vine. “I don’t expect anything out of them. It’s you that chose us, remember? Goddess, I’m only human! We all are, or near enough it doesn’t matter!
1. How Many Rabites

All characters from Seiken Densetsu 3 are courtesy of Squaresoft, the company that published the game (in Japan, but not the U.S., I guess we're not good enough_ _). Anyway, this story is mine, and I'd appreciate it if I were to receive credit if it gets posted (translation: DON'T PLAGIARIZE, IT'S EVIL AND IT WILL ROT YOUR SOUL!). Enjoy!  
  
How Many Rabites...?  
  
The tall girl in green scowled at him, and he allowed a soft chuckle to escape his mouth.  
"Riesz, it's only a rabite. We've seen how many of them since we got into this forest?"  
"That's the twenty-fourth." Said the other girl, young woman really. She was possessed of a figure a goddess would envy, with hair as violet as the sky just before the sun sets, and eyes to match. She knew it, and she capitalized on it. But under that soft exterior was a sharp and calculating mind.  
"You were counting?"  
The thief appraised his other traveling companion, and was not displeased at all. While she did not carry herself in the lurid, risqué manner that Angela used to catch the interest of males, Riesz was the one who had caught his eye. There was a certain peace, a purity that hung over the amazon. Princess Angela might be quite willing to hop into bed with a man if it furthered her interests, but not Riesz.  
"Of course I was counting!"  
"But why?"  
"Because we need to get an idea of how many there are! What if we need to set up camp or something?! Just what did they teach you over in Gustyville anyway?"  
"I'll show you what they taught me, you..."  
"Ladies, I think the enemy is that way." He pointed at yet another of the yellow creatures, and the dueling females dove at it viciously. In no time at all, the poor creature was thumped, smashed, spitted, and slammed as they unleashed all of their formidable rage on it.  
Glad I'm not a rabite right now.  
"Gah!"  
"Yargh!"  
"Guess what's on the menu tonight!" cried the amazon, lifting the pulped rodent on the point of her spear.  
"Rabite on a stick! Rabite on stick!" chanted the "princess" Angela.  
Yeah, I'm definitely glad I'm not a rabite.  
  
Several hours later, they had made their way out of the forest, only to find the ruins of a small town.  
"Goddess!" exclaimed the amazon.  
As they surveyed the destruction and desolation, they finally began to realize the full ramifications of the task they had undertaken.  
"This...this is horrible!" said Angela, "Is this really Astoria?"  
The bustling, little fishing town from the day before was no more.  
"This was no ordinary attack. Look here."   
Hawkeye pointed to one of the maimed houses with one of his daggers. The marks of great claws marred the simple wooden structure, massive rents that could not have been made by any animal.  
:You're right, Hawk.: The voice of the faerie that they all heard, in their minds, was sad, but not overly surprised. :These marks were made by beastmen, armed with bagh nahk. They were equipped to do as much damage as possible.:  
They searched the town for signs of life, and found nothing. Not even the aggressive dog that had barked at Riesz had survived the attack. When they found a body, Angela was forced to excuse herself, and they could hear violent retching noises emanating from the bushes beyond. Hawkeye and Riesz, who had encountered death often enough, were hard-pressed to contain the contents of their stomachs. The body was hardly recognizable as human, rent limb from limb as callously as its house had been. All over it were the tiny marks that they were all-too familiar with, the bite-marks of a rabite.  
:This could happen to one of you, you realize.:   
Each of the three warriors felt an invisible force probing their minds, weighing them against something immeasurable.  
"I think we knew that, when we agreed to this mission." replied Hawkeye.  
"Or we do now." Angela had returned, and she looked more than a bit green.  
:And you choose to go on, even knowing that one day you may fall in battle? You can still turn back. I won't force you to go on.:  
"We all know that can't be, Faerie. Even if we did go home, the guilt would haunt us, and the world would be in constant danger... I can't live knowing that I could have done something to help." Riesz propped her spear up over her shoulder and glared at the tiny, floating woman before her.  
"We stand to lose everything, or gain it." said Hawkeye, "If I were a gambling man, I wouldn't put odds on us, but we have to try anyway, don't we? Duty or some such."  
"I don't really even have a place to go home to, even if I wanted to. And if I get to meet even one elemental, I'll have something special just for me. Even Koren couldn't say he ever met one in person!"  
:Then you're all agreed?: They nodded. :That's a relief. Now let's get out of here before I gag!:   
No one argued. No one cried. They just moved on. But the image of a young girl's mangled body would hang in their vision and in their dreams for days.  
How many rabites...? 


	2. Reflections in Waterfalls

Okay now! Away from the dour doom and gloom and on to the rain of sparkling waterfalls! Angela, Riesz, and Hawkeye (Hawk) are all characters the property of Squaresoft, and I lay no claim to any of them. This story, however, is mine, so give me credit if you post it! Reflections starts just after Rabites, so enjoy the next installment of my little epic (little epic? Isn't that an oxymoron? Oh well...).  
~Truewind  
  
Reflections in Waterfalls  
  
"First rabites and now bats?! We're being attacked by rodents!"  
Angela tried to ignore the soft squelching of bat droppings underfoot as she made her delicate way through the cavern. Oddly enough, the large series of caves they were making their way through were well-lit, almost as well as in full daylight.  
"And don't forget the mushbooms, they're killers." Hawkeye chuckled to himself at Angela's heated display of anger.  
"And fungi! Rodents and fungi! If I knew we'd be fighting mushrooms and rats with wings, I'd have taken my chances with the beastmen!" She made a disgusted noise, and leapt over a particularly disgusting mound of guano.  
:This is only the beginning. Evil has only just begun to set foot in Fa'Diel. It corrupts the hearts of the animals and plants, changing them into horrible monsters. It will infect the lowliest creatures first, but eventually it will influence the more lucid races. In fact, it already has.:  
"What do you mean?" Angela's expression was troubled. "I don't feel any more evil than usual."  
:It is very subtle.: They all felt a mental sensation, like someone shaking her head in displeasure. The faerie just floated there, obviously waiting for them to figure out what she meant by themselves.  
"I think she means that it works in ways that we can't track?" Riesz ventured.  
:More or less. The incursion of evil could explain the current aggression on the part of the beastmen, and the attack on Laurant. This evil is, well, diabolical, and its victims don't know that it is destroying them until it is too late.:  
"Then, we don't have much of a chance, do we?" Angela looked down, and they all fell silent. The only sound was the constant crash of the hundreds of waterfalls that adorned the sides of the caves.  
This quest thing is looking more and more chancy every step we take. I want to save Jessica, but...is this the way? Hawkeye did what he normally did when his thoughts took a dark turn, pulled himself inside, and presented a friendly exterior.  
"It doesn't matter right now," he said, smiling winningly, "we should concentrate on our immediate goal, getting to the Priest. Then maybe we'll have some of our questions answered."  
The two girls nodded in silent accordance, and they continued on into the strangely lit caverns beyond.  
  
"Do you hear that?" Riesz's keen ears had picked up an echo from a cave far ahead.  
"Hear what?" Hawkeye and Angela strained their own ears, trying to catch the elusive murmur. When they rounded a corner, the murmur suddenly became a scream.  
"HEEEEEEEELP!!!"  
"That!" Riesz charged off into the next cave, spear in the air. Her two companions followed at a more sedate pace, but Hawkeye had his daggers out and ready, and Angela's knuckles were white from the grip she was maintaining on her staff. After turning around another corner, they saw the source of the raucous cry for help. A tiny girl wearing a pink hat and blue jumper was dangling over the side of a natural bridge, and she was about to fall!  
"Help Carlie!" she shrieked, and Riesz dashed over.  
"I can't reach her!" The expression she turned to the others was pained, the little girl's grip was obviously slipping.  
"Use your head woman! You've got a big stick, use it!" cried Hawkeye.  
Riesz appraised her spear for a moment, and then seemed to understand what he had meant. Using her spear, she hooked the edge of the girl's clothing, and levered her up onto the narrow bridge. The child lay there for a few moments before suddenly springing up and clinging to the amazon's leg.  
"You save Carlie!"  
"But what are you doing in such a dangerous place little girl?"  
"Aw, Carlie not little! Carlie already fifteen years old!"  
You've got to be kidding me, thought Hawkeye, this kid can't be a day over ten!  
"All right Carlie," Riesz said, praying to the Goddess for patience, "why are you here? Did you get lost?"  
"Carlie tell you!"  
The tiny girl freed Riesz's leg and proceeded to bounce around, never once losing her footing on the slippery rocks. As she babbled something about a priest named Heath and a masked man, Hawkeye wondered about the girl's fall.  
She's not nearly clumsy enough to have had that fall without help. She was pushed. But by who?  
"...and that's why Carlie in this scary place!" The child bounced away to the other side of the bridge nimbly, a cherubic grin on her chubby face. The three travelers huddled together to decide what to do.  
"What do you guys think?" Riesz replaced one of her distinctive winged barrettes that had fallen out in her haste.  
"We obviously can't leave her, she'll just fall again." Angela's voice was contemptuous, but Hawkeye could see the concern in her violet eyes.  
"So, we take her to the Priest. He's her grandfather, right?" said Hawkeye.  
"From what she told us, yes. So let's get on with it! Carlie!" Riesz motioned for the little girl to come over. "Carlie, we're going to visit your Grandpa, and we think it's best that you come with us."  
"Come with...wait a minute. Grampa sent you, didn't he! Carlie will do just fine by herself!" With no further warning, she dashed off into the next cave, leaving the three companions behind.  
"We have to go after her! She'll be killed if she has no one to protect her!" Riesz started to charge off again, but Hawk caught her arm.  
"I think she'll be fine by herself, Amazon. Did you look closely at her?"  
"Why?"  
"If you'd looked, you would have seen that she's no pampered temple brat. There was a flail hidden in her robe, and from the way she was bouncing around, she's no stranger to treks in the wilderness." He frowned. Should he tell them what he thought about the fall?  
"Yeah, I noticed that too. She seemed awfully sure-footed on the rocks. She'll be all right."  
Hawk glanced at Angela in surprise, she had been thinking much the same thing he had!  
"But if she's so good at climbing around on these rocks, then why did she fall in the first place?"  
:Because, as Hawk has already been thinking, she was pushed.:  
Two pairs of eyes, one green and the other purple, snapped around to glare at him.  
"Why didn't you say anything?" Angela demanded, one hand on her shapely hip, the other on the base of her staff. She was cute when she was angry, he decided. But it was Riesz's pained gaze that cut the thief deeply, and motivated him to answer.  
"I didn't know who could have done it, so I didn't mention it."  
"But if you'd just told us, we could have put our heads together and thought up the answer as a team!" Angela yelled angrily. "We are a team, aren't we?"  
When neither of her two companions answered, she let the training she had gotten from the soldiers in the Altenan Army.  
"If we're going to beat this new evil, or whatever it is, then we're going to have to work together. If we don't, then we'll get creamed as soon as something comes along that we can't handle individually."  
"But..." Hawk started.  
"But what? All three of us accepted this challenge, not one of us. In war, to surmount a challenge that you can't overcome by yourself, you get help. This thing, this evil that we're supposed to fight, it's bigger than any one of us, probably bigger than the three of us together. This is war, and if we don't stick together and tell each other everything, even things that seem insignificant, one or all of us is going to get killed. Do you hear me?"  
Riesz and Hawk nodded meekly beneath the princess' fiery gaze, and she let herself fall out of command-mode. "I don't just need the two of you as battle companions, I like you both, a luxury most soldiers don't have, and I want to be your friend. But I am not going to let that get in the way of what's ahead of me, and neither should either of you! We can't hide things from each other to avoid offending someone's sensibilities. We have to be blunt and speak our minds, and maybe, just maybe, we can get out of this alive."  
With that, she marched down the path Carlie had taken before her, and left them in her wake. She glanced at one of the pounding waterfalls, seeing her own face in its steadily flowing surface. Something about her had changed. She was not sure what it was, but she liked it.  
  
  
  
That's it! Hope you liked it. If you want to send comments, compliments, or flames (I hope there are fewer of these), send them to reyes@fuse.net. I enjoy all types of criticism, as long as it is constructive, or even if it's just "I liked it". So mail me if you liked it, and if didn't, you can mail me too, just try to be gentle!  
  
Also, if you were wondering what the words inside colons are, that's the faerie's mindsendings. They look like this :mindsending:. Hope that didn't confuse anyone.  
  
Ja ne!  
Truewind 


	3. On the Path

Angela, Riesz, and Hawkeye are characters the property of Squaresoft. Andy and his family are mine, since they aren't into the game. They're just minor characters, so I don't expect anyone to use them, but I figured they deserved a mentioning. Anyway, enjoy!  
~Truewind  
  
On the Path  
  
When the three travelers straggled into the temple town, it was three hours past the sun's peak. Market was in full swing, and they soon found themselves swept up into the whirlwind of activity. As tired as they were, the familiar surroundings of civilization were comforting after three days of wilderness trekking. They were finally able to let down their guards, and began to feel a little more human, instead of like hunted animals. Somehow, amid the maelstrom of bodies and carts and livestock, they managed to find an inn.  
"A room." Angela managed to gasp out. The innkeeper, who happened to be an old adventruer himself, took one look at their exhausted faces and chuckled.  
"Ah, you'll be wanting some food, and then you'll be for your pallets?"  
They nodded, and he led them, not the common room, as they had expected, but to a scrupulously clean room with three beds in it, equally clean. It was probably the best room in the house. Riesz turned, and stared at the man.  
"Sir, there's no way we can afford this."  
He just grinned, revealing a set of strong teeth a horse would envy.  
"Spearlady, those marks on that leather you've got on tell me you've already paid in full. Sarah will be in with your food later. It's plain fare, but good. Me wife's a good cook, and I'd imagine you couldn't handle any finery at any rate."  
He grinned again as they all turned slightly green, and turned to leave.  
"Goddess bless, innkeeper." Murmured Riesz, as she fell into the just-right cushion of the simple bed.  
"Goddess bless, spearlady."  
  
The innkeeper's word was as good as his rooms, and a young, sweet-faced girl soon arrived, laden with three steaming platters. The three warriors attacked their meals so voraciously that the girl's eyes widened. When Hawk realized that she had not left, he motioned for her attention.  
"Next time you think about taking up the sword like your da, remember this. Remember how we looked when we crawled in after just three days in the wild. Those were three days without warm bread, without even a rock to lay our heads down on and feel safe at night. You remember, and think again. Got anything you like to do?"  
Startled by the rapid change of subject, the girl answered.  
"I can cook, some. Mama says it's a blessing to have me."  
"Good. So run a good inn like your da does now. There's a reason his sword's hung up over the fireplace out there, and not in a sheathe."  
Still wide-eyed, she nodded. Hawk pressed a copper coin into her hand, which showed signs of old burn marks from lifting pots too hot to handle, and gave her a slight push toward the doorway. When she had gone, Angela pointed at the thief with her spoon and frowned.  
"Was that really necessary? We need every scrap of lucre we can scrounge right now. It's a good thing he gave this room for free, or we'd probably be sleeping on the floor out there."  
"Since when did you become so trail-wise? But yes, it was necessary." He stopped eating for a few moments, remembering how the girl had looked when she had stood there, just watching them eat. "You didn't see how she looked, with your back to her. She just about had stars in her eyes. I was just showing her that it's not all glamour and brightwork."  
Needless to say, the couple that kept the inn slept better when their daughter no longer made any mention of going off to see the world.  
  
The next day, the trio peeled themselves out of bed and made their way groggily into the common room. This time, it was the innkeeper's wife that greeted them, looking far too awake and bright-eyed for the early hour.  
"Andy told me about you lot. Said you're to eat a good breakfast and report to the bathhouse soon as you've finished." She bustled off into the back room that served as the kitchen without another word. By the time they had seated themselves at one of the tables, a youth with a lively grin like his father's was dashing out of the door, carrying three plates of plain food. Unlike his sister he did not stare, and did not tarry. He bounced out of the entrance without even waiting for a tip. Amazed by the brisk efficiency of the place, they tucked into the food gustily.  
"You know, this tastes better than anything I ever had at Court." Angela remarked. Riesz nodded, too absorbed in her food to answer.  
"It's the road. Eating nothing but cold trail rations for days does that to you." Hawk somehow managed to say, around a mouth full of good bread. When they had first arrived, they just inhaled their food without tasting it. Now that they could appreciate it, they realized that it was very good. Too good for a trio of adventurers just in from the road.  
"Sarah's handiwork, you think?" Angela asked, and Hawk nodded. When they had finished, they went out to the building attached to the inn's side. Steam greeted them at the open doorway, as well as another child, this one a boy with the hands of a musician.  
"Thank you..." Angela began.  
"Roger, lady. And it's no trouble. Mama always gives us special treats when we help without whining!" He moved aside to reveal heaven, as far as the sweaty travelers were concerned. Inside were three tubs, each filled with water that steamed invitingly. They would finally get the chance to really scrub off the grime of travel. After dropping a pile of towels on the tiled floor, the boy left and closed the door.  
"Uh..." Angela and Hawk exchanged glances. As far as they could tell, there were no curtains to change behind, and no divided areas to denote male/female baths. Unabashed, Riesz shed her clothing, ignoring the other's gasps. She slipped into the warm water with a sigh.  
"Come on! Get in! The water's just right...." She splashed a little moisture at them, and laughed as they stood there, sopping wet. The two outside of the bath glanced at each other. This time, identical, evil grins spread over their faces.  
"I'll get the soap, you get on of those towels." Angela said. She pulled a bar off the shelf, and Hawk picked up a towel.  
"Wait, what are you doing? No don't! I'm ticklish!"  
Stripping off their own trail and battle-stained garments, they descended on the hapless Riesz and proceeded to scrub her down bodily. The gales of laughter that erupted then eventually reached the ears of the innkeeper and his wife.  
"Should we stop them?" The woman asked, bouncing a baby on her leg. The laughter had a slightly hysterical edge to it.  
"No, I think they need this." He looked out in the direction of the bathhouse, and sighed. The splashes and laughter persisted.  
They're still just kids, really. Goddess bless them, and put them on the right path.  
  
  
Aw... This is the kind of thing that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. To explain Angela and Hawk's sudden loss of self-consciousness, they really are just kids. Life on the road was hard back then, especially for the young. But this was also a great chance for the trio to have a nice bonding experience!  
Ja ne!  
~Truewind 


	4. Chase the Light

Beware, this chapter is very graphic. The Mana Warriors descend into the hell-pit of the Cave of Waterfalls. Insert the usual disclaimer here, and then get to reading!  
~Truewind  
  
Chase the Light  
  
"I still can't believe the Priest is just some old geezer." Angela remarked as the trio trudged down the trade road that led to the Cave of Waterfalls. Riesz blinked once, and caught the older girl's arm in the same grip she used when piercing monsters with her spear.  
"Do you relly have so much contempt for a priest of the highest order? Didn't you feel his power?"  
"What power? I didn't sense anything. You can feel magical auras?" The expression on Angela's face was genuinely puzzled.  
Riesz dropped her friend's arm in surprise. She glanced quickly at Hawkeye, who shrugged nonchalantly.  
"You really didn't feel anything?"  
"Nope. Never have, never will. I don't have the talent for it."  
Angela turned away to hide the pain. It was an old wound, one she had thought buried and gone. But it resurfaced then with a vengeance. Of the entire royal family of Altena, she had been the only one unable to use magic, a disgrace to her heritage. She looked back at Riesz, whose surprise was evident in her face, and the fact that she had not moved since dropping Angela's arm. Hawkeye, as usual, was unreadable.  
"Leave her alone, Riesz. We'll probably never see the man again, anyway, so it doesn't matter if she offended him or not. Besides, I think we have another problem right now." He pointed at the cave entrance with one of his daggers. A tiny figure was bobbing back and forth and waving at them, obviously trying to get their attention. She ran down the natural staircase to them, nimble as a goat.  
"Good! Carlie catch you before you go in! Take Carlie with you!"  
Geez, what's wrong with this kid? Angela thought. One minute she doesn't want to go with us, the next she's begging to tag along?  
"I'll handle this." She said to Hawkeye and Riesz. Without waiting for a reply, she pulled the girl a bit away from the other two. "Now Carlie...This isn't a treasure hunt. This is no place for little girls. We'll find Heath."  
"But Carlie want to save Heath"  
The tears that gathered in those big, blue eyes were almost enough to change Angela's mind. Almost  
"No, Carlie. You can't come." She shook her head to emphasize the statement.  
"Oh!" Carlie fumed and stamped her little foot. "Why did Carlie ask you anyway?" She just stood there, fuming. Angela shrugged, and motioned for the others to follow her back into the caves.  
  
:Wait.: The faerie stopped them at the bridge where they had first found Carlie. She popped into being instantly, and floated easily up to the great waterfall that roared beside them. :I feel a presence here. It could be Wisp!: She floated upward, and cam back down again. :There!: She pointed at a ledge, high above them, and disappeared again. By now, the three travelers were used to her quirks, and they simply made their way through the winding passages tat led to the ledge.  
When they arrived, they found that there was just enough room for all three of them to fit on the tiny cliff. But between them and the other side lay a massive ravine.  
"We'll never get across!" said Riesz. Hawkeye rolled his eyes with disgust.  
:Oops! I forgot you can't fly!: The little woman measured the distance with her eyes, and floated out to the waterfall. :I think I can channel some of the energy from this waterfall.:  
Without warning, they felt themselves pulled forward like dogs on a leash. Before they knew it, they were at the other side.  
:There!: sent the faerie, very pleased with herself.  
"Are you crazy?" Hawkeye demanded. He seemed flustered, not a normal state for him. "What if you'd left a piece of me behind?"  
Riesz and Angela were bewildered. Not once during the entire trip had they seen Hawkeye lose his composure or his temper. Now, both of them seemed to have been left at the other cliff. He continued along on that vein for some time, but when his comments degenerated into insults, Angela decided to intervene.  
"Look, Hawk. We're all fine, we're across, and we need to get moving. So could you please stow it? She's not listening to you anyway."  
The thief's mouth snapped abruptly shut, and he reined in his temper visibly. Then, the mask of serenity descended on his angular features once again. But before he could say anything, six feet of wood was interposed between them.  
"What the..."  
"We've got company!" Impaled on the end of the long shaft of Riesz's spear wast he most disgusting creature any of them had ever seen.  
:A zombie! Darkness is corrupting the bodies of the slain!:  
The creature mad a sickening, squishing noised, and shifted on the spear's point.  
"Oh gross!" Angela whacked the thing's rotting head squarely with her staff. The dilapidated skull popped off, and fell down into the crevasse. But the thing was still moving. Riesz swung her spear over her shoulder, and the ghastly creature went flying into the abyss. Each of them heaved a sigh of relief, but knew there would be more to come.  
  
As the long battle deep in the caves wore on, the two girls gained an appreciation for Hawkeye's almost surgical accuracy and his cast-iron stomach. Whenever on of them faltered in that hellish prison of rock, he was there, hacking off rotten limbs with shining blades, and murmuring kind nothings to the one who hesitated. They learned soon enough that escape was not an option, there were simply too many of the undead creations.  
:Wounding them is not enough,: the faerie had told them, :you must dismember them so utterly that they simply cannot attack any more.:  
There was no point in trying to outwit the undead, either, they had no minds to speak of, and they killed by sheer numbers. So the three fighters were forced to destroy every one that crossed their path. They reduced the fighting to a routine that seemed to work effectively enough. Angela would sweep the thing's legs out from beneath it, and Riesz would then pin it to the ground with her spear. That gave Hawkeye the moment he needed to slice off an arm or a leg, or otherwise incapacitate it. Luckily for them, the caves were small, which meant that the zombies could not mass to attack them. But the constant fighting was wearing them down, body and soul.  
"There's just too many of them!" Angela gasped. A new wave of the things was descending on them.  
"In there!" Riesz shouldered the girl into the other branch of the passage, and Hawkeye followed them quickly. Then, miraculously, the horde began to disperse and file away, leaving only a few in the cavern Angela and her companions had just vacated.  
"What just happened?" Angela asked.  
"Look! Look behind you!" Riesz's pleasant alto was high with excitement. Angela turned, and nearly fainted with relief.  
"What is it?" Hawkeye sat down beside the two girls, now that the threat had abated momentarily.  
A life-sized, golden statue of a beautiful woman had been placed on a pedestal in the cave. Moss clung to the base, but had not coated the likeness. The pool of water next to the golden figure was clear and untainted, and the three warriors felt their spirits rise just sitting there.  
"A statue of the Goddess." Riesz said, awed.  
"And a gold one, no less. We'll be safe here." Angela's prior hysteria seemed to have melted away completely, and she was as calm as she had ever been. Even Riesz, who rarely let her guard down, set aside her spear and closed her eyes, peace oozing from her pores.  
:In the presence of a golden Goddess statue, your wounds will heal at a much faster rate. There is time for rest, now.: The faerie floated over to the stature, and alighted on a rock beside the statue.  
"But why did the zombies stop swarming?" Hawkeye asked, perplexed.  
:This is a sacred place, they cannot enter here.:  
"Come on, Hawk. It's all right." Angela beckoned to him, and he shifted a bit so that he was closer to her. "Your hair... it's gotten itself tangled. Let me help." She brandished a stiff brush that materialized, seemingly from nowhere, in her hand, ready to be used. She proceeded to gently tug out the snares in his indigo hair. Her gentle fingers reminded him of his mother, now long dead, and he realized that she was emulating the mother figure for his benefit.  
Though where she learned how, I can't guess. It certainly wasn't from that frozen bitch Valda!  
Angela began to hum softly, her sweet voice resonating through the cavern. If she closed her eyes, Riesz could almost imagine that it was the Goddess singing, that She was there, guarding them in their time of need. With her eyes open, she could see Hawkeye lying there, cushioned by a patch of soft moss, all of his barriers down. To her surprise, she liked what she saw there. She'd had very little contact with men other than her father and, of course, her younger brother Eliot, and none of them had ever made her feel this way. She put it down to stress, and closed her eyes once again to commune with the Goddess.  
  
"I hate to say this guys, but..." Angela stood up, and the faerie disappeared again, presumably to take up residence inside Angela's mind once more.  
"Yeah, we know. It's time to go." Hawkeye gathered his long hair into its usual severe tail, and stood as well. Riesz was already standing, keeping watch at the threshold.  
"Let's get moving." She said, and hefted her spear into a guard position. All three of them felt better for the rest, and they were ready to face whatever the caves could throw at them.  
When they reached the massive entrance of a cave that looked fit to house an arena, they dispatched the last of the zombies with grim efficiency, and proceeded into the depths. The natural crystals inside were intensely beautiful, almost shining with inner lights. However, beautiful as it was, the place held a vague feeling of unease that was only compounded when the path crumbled behind them.  
'What is this place?"  
No one got the chance to answer Angela's question, because, at that moment, a massive shape descended on them without warning. They dove out of the way reflexively, and used the next few instants to evaluate their opponent. It was a gargantuan, hideous, horrible...  
"Crab? Is that a CRAB?" Angela had been separated from the other two during the impact, and the gigantic crustacean turned toward the sound of her voice. Its huge claws tore great rents in the hard stone floor as it maneuvered its bulk in the princess' direction.  
"Angie! Get your royal behind out of there!" Hawkeye picked up a sharp crystal and hurled it at the thing as hard as he could. When the stone connected with its hard shell, it uttered an odd, chittering noise, and whirled to face its assailant. Angela scrambled over to join the others, and they faced the thing together.  
"See its shell?" Riesz pointed at the armored covering of the beast with a free hand. "It's got to be at least as strong as steel. We'll never break that open."  
They rolled again as the monster lashed out again. When it swerved its huge, glowing orbs toward them again, an idea flashed in Hawkeye's mind.  
"Distract it." There was no time to explain. Riesz and Angela started beating it relentlessly with their pole-arms.  
Maybe we don't have to break it open.  
The thing chittered again, flailing at the tiny insects that were bothering it. It was confused by the girls' attacks, but it would only take one blow to maim, or even kill one of them. He had to act quickly. He set his sights on one of those glowing eyes, and flicked a dagger at it.  
It hit dead center. The thing reared like a fat horse, its eye dripping ichor, and the two girls backed away carefully.  
"Good shot, Hawk." Riesz whispered to him. For some reason, that compliment made him beam like nothing he'd ever gotten from his weapons instructor. But their reprieve was short, because the monster righted itself quickly, and a shower of colored sparks sealed the wound shut. It opened its gaping maw, and a spray of saliva shot out in the form of gigantic, digestive bubbles. The three warriors tried desperately to get out of the way, but Riesz was hit in the leg with one of the corrosive bubbles. The wound hissed and spat, and Riesz let out an involuntary shriek of pain.  
"Did you get hit?" Hawkeye tossed a small, odd-smelling herb to her. "Eat that, it'll keep the poison from spreading." The pain was enough that she did not argue. The effect was almost instant, though a bit gruesome. The wound stopped hissing, but the poison oozed out of it. It was a particularly odd feeling, she decided, feeling the fluid flow out of her body. She sighed with relief when the pain stopped, and graced Hawkeye with a wordless expression of gratitude.  
"Watch out! I think it's going to jump again!" Angela shouted, as the huge creature braced itself to leap into the air again. They dove for cover, but the shockwave that came after it dropped down again sent them flying into the cavern's stone walls. They recovered, albeit slowly, and pulled themselves to their feet.  
"We've got to get the other eye!" Hawkeye said. Riesz bounded down from her precarious perch and brandished her spear in front of the monster. With an angry battle cry, she rammed the shaft through the thing's good eye as hard as she could. The spear went up into the eye, all the way down to where Riesz's hands were placed. The thing shuddered, and died without another sound. Riesz fell to the ground, exhausted.  
  
"You must have hit its brain." Angela commented, when they had had a chance to rest. Now that the threat had passed, she was examining the carcass with a scientist's eye. "That's the only way you could have killed it. If you had pulled back even a little, you'd have been eaten."  
Riesz shuddered. "Could we...talk about something else?"  
:Do I count as something else?:  
They all jumped at the sound of yet another voice in their heads. A ball of silver light was bobbing up and down next to Riesz, but it was a ball of light with eyes.  
"What the..." Hawkeye drew his daggers, and the orb shrank back.  
:Wait! I'm Wisp! I'm the one you've been looking for!:  
"Hawk, put those toothpicks away." Angela said. "Does he look evil?"  
:It's all right. You can never be too cautious these days. I got stuck in that thing's body, and it was feeding off my energy!:   
So that's why it could heal itself... thought the thief.  
"So what do we do now?" Riesz asked.  
:We go find the rest of my buds! I'm a part of Mana, like the faerie, so I can't survive without it. So let's go them and save Mana!:  
The little orb's bubbly personality was infectious, and the three of them found themselves agreeing with him before they knew it. As they searched for a way out, Wisp bobbed over to Angela.  
:You know, now that you've found me, you'll be able to use magic.: He sent, in a mind-voice meant only for her.  
"What? But I can't use magic, Jose told me..."  
:He lied to you. It was his job to contain your power, so that your mother could use it.:  
"But that can't be true! Mother would never..." She broke off. That sounded exactly like something her mother would do.  
:At least, that was the original idea. You might find it hard to believe, but Jose loved you like his own daughter, and he would never have hurt you. Once he realized the extent of your latent abilities, he hid the truth from your mother, and siphoned it off until you would need it. Unfortunately, that meant that he had to hide it from you, too. But now...: The little pools of blackness that served the elemental as eyes closed, and Angela felt something stirring in her mind. Something broke, and she felt a relief so profound that it almost put her to tears.  
:There, I've released the seal. You'll only be able to use my magic right now, but as we find my buds, they'll give you their power, too.:  
"I..." Words could not express her feelings at that moment.  
:Thank me by saving Mana, and Fa'Diel. You could start by taking the exit that thing opened up when it crashed in here.:  
She looked up, and saw what Wisp had been talking about. A passage had opened during the fighting without them even noticing.  
"Hey! There's an exit here! It wasn't here before..."  
The exit turned opened out into the very first cavern they had entered since the faerie had teleported them across the ravine.  
:Here, I think I can do it again.: She repeated the spell she had performed earlier, and they flew across the distance instantly. But they were unprepared for what they would meet at the other side. Angela never saw the beast-man's fist until it hit her in the jaw.  
  
Okay! Whew that was long! Sorry about the regurgitation of game text, but I couldn't get the story to flow right without doing it. Now, you all know what comes next, so I wouldn't call this a cliffhanger... Duran in all his swearing glory is in the next chapter, so read it (when I manage to get it typed).  
Ja ne!  
~Truewind 


	5. Come Sail Away

Mmph. Forgive the corny title, but I've been really into Styx these days. Well, insert your usual   
disclaimer and read up!  
  
Come Sail Away  
  
Riesz woke slowly, the ache in her head prevented her from waking all at once, as she   
usually did. The surface beneath her was unfamiliar, but after the last few weeks, that was nothing   
new.  
"Riesz?" Angela called out into the darkness.  
"I'm up." Massaging her forehead, the amazon sat up slowly.  
"Good." Illumination suddenly filled the room. The source was a tiny ball of light in Angela's  
hand. "I was starting to get worried. You were out for a while there."  
"How did you..." Riesz began.  
"Hey over there! Is she up yet?" The voice that called from the other side of the wall was   
deep, and completely unfamiliar to Riesz.  
"She's fine, Duran." Angela let out a sigh, and whispered to Riesz, "He never shuts up. I  
don't know how Hawk can sit in there with him!"  
"I heard that! You wanna come over here with that, you bit..."  
"Don't*ever*say*that*around*me*again. Idiot."  
Even as soft as Hawkeye was speaking, the two girls could hear him clearly. "No woman   
deserves that. Save it for the beastmen that locked us up."  
They sat in silence for a while after that. Eventually, Riesz grew impatient.  
"Where are we, anyway?"  
"The prison at Jadd. The beastmen caught us." Angela replied.  
"Yeah, and they took our weapons away! I could take 'em with my bare fists, though."  
"Then what are you doing in here with us lowlifes?" Angela asked sarcastically.  
"Fuckin' bastards caught me by surprise. Never would have...huh?" He fell silent as they  
heard heard footsteps from outside the cells.  
"Hey you!" called a gruff voice into the guys' cell. "Quiet in there!"  
"Quiet my ass, you piece of shit! Get in here and fight me like a man!"  
I hope you've got a reason for this, Duran.  
For Riesz, it was maddening not to know what was going on behind that wall. The two girls  
heard the muffled sounds of a fight, but did not know who was winning. Then, silence. Angela put  
out her light just in case. Footsteps echoed outside again, this time coming straight to the door.  
Someone pulled a lever, and the two girls stood up slowly. Riesz had an old wooden support that had  
once been part of a bed, and Angela was hefting a rock as a weapon. The door swung open.  
"You girls need anything?"  
The figure in the doorway was big, almost ducking through the high doorway. He stood at  
least a head taller than Riesz, who was not a small woman by any means. The other, much smaller  
figure squeezed in past the giant and was at her side instantly, checking for signs of injury.  
"Are you sure you're all right?" Hawkeye's voice was taut with worry, and that, perversely,  
made Riesz feel better.  
"I'm fine Hawk. Let's just get out of this place." She dropped her makeshift club, and  
hurried through the doorway. The big warrior moved aside reluctantly to let her pass.  
"Are you good to go, Angie?" Hawkey asked the princess playfully, his eyes twinkling with a  
mischief he had not shown to Riesz.  
"So I'm Angie now, huh?" She mimed throwing the rock at him, and he pretended to  
dodge. When she stepped outside and into the light, she stared up at the ruddy-haired giant. He  
was rather handsome in an unkempt, unfinished way, though he possessed none of Hawkeye's  
sophisticated charm. Her heart skipped a beat. Then, he leered at her and whistled, and she kicked  
him promptly where it hurts. As he lay on the floor, groaning, Hawkeye peered down at him, grinning  
wildly.  
"Youre lucky she didn't have her staff with her." He did not elaborate, but Duran got the  
point.  
"Hawk, come on! Riesz found our weapons!" Angela was already on the stairs, waving at  
Hawkeye energetically.  
"Go on ahead, I'll catch up. There's supposed to be a ship leaving from the harbor soon."  
Duran said. Hawkeye had a suspicion that the big warrior had only gone down to accomodate   
Angela's sensibilities. He nodded, and loped after the girls.  
***********  
"It's too bad Duran missed the boat." Riesz commented as the three of them watched the  
great castle city disappear into the distance.  
"Who?" Angela's was peeved, and the other two knew it, but didn't know what to do  
about it.  
:We'll be reaching Maia, soon. From there, we should go to Forcena. There should be  
a spirit near there.:  
"That's where King Richard rules, isn't it?" Riesz asked.  
:Yes, he'll probably know where to look for the spirit.:  
"So when we get to Maia, we'll head to Forcena from there!"  
The other two did not notice her smile as she turned and headed down to the small cabin.  
Duran's from Forcena, isn't he...?  
  
Heh, this is a bit shorter. I wrote this on my trip to Chicago, and that's why. Still, I liked it, though I  
thought that Duran made more than a bit of an ass of himself. Maybe that was from a certain Duran  
any S&S regular would remember. Anyway, hope you liked it.  
  
~Truewind 


	6. Golden Eyes

Heyla, everyone! Thanks for your comments. I'm taking down the so-called Author's Note of mine, and relocating it to come after this chapter. I'll try to answer some of your questions there. Meanwhile, go ahead and read this chapter, always remembering the eternal disclaimer, bla bla...  
  
Golden Eyes  
  
"Captain Nieva!" The scout looked about ready to burst. Her face was flushed from the run, and her eyes blazed with suppressed surprise.  
"What is it?" The tall woman with golden hair was dressed much like any other soldier of the army of Reason. Her big, pointed hat marked her as a magician, and its peculiar shade of bright, royal blue showed that she was from Altena.  
"It's Princess Angela!"  
Before the scout could finish her report, three figures came crashing down on the bridge at a breakneck pace. Nieva's throat caught from shock as she recognized the first figure.  
Angela? What are you doing here?  
She turned to her fellow soldiers.  
"Get the Machine Golems!" At her command, blue-capped soldiers scattered to collect the necessary equipment to operate Master Inventor Victor's automated creations.  
I'm sorry, Princess.  
"Princess Angela!" She called out to the girl with the violet hair.  
"Yes?" The girl stopped running halfway across the bridge, and her companions stopped as well.  
"By order of the Queen of Reason, we are to kill you on sight."  
Nieva's voice was thick with the emotions that threatened to break free of her mental barriers.  
"What? What did I do?" The princess fell to her knees, and Nieva cringed inside.  
"Uh, now, ladies. Can't we work something out?" The man began to back up slowly, putting up his hands in surrender. Angela's other companion was not so easily overwhelmed.  
"No matter what, I can't let that happen!" Riesz thought back to the terrified face of her younger brother as the two ninjas had kidnapped him. She interposed herself between captain and princess, brandishing her long spear menacingly. Nieva just sighed, and raised a pale arm.  
"Nieva, is that you?" Angela's voice was soft. "Why are you doing this, Nieva? Don't you remember me?"  
Of course I remember! But orders are orders.  
She was a battle-hardened soldier, and emotions take no place in war. Nieva had taught all of her pupils that, including Angela, and the captain was not one to ignore her own advice. She dropped the arm, and the deadly robots were released.  
No, I won't let them hurt Riesz and Hawk!  
Angela pulled her body to its feet and whipped out her staff, worn from use in recent battles.  
"I won't let you hurt them!" She closed her eyes, and sought the warmth of her own personal stock of magic.  
"Holy orbs of shining light, gather here and banish the night!" When she opened her eyes, they flashed with an inner light that was not the usual shade of sunset violet.  
Her eyes were gold.  
*************  
:Let the Mana flow through you, princess.:  
The voice of her old teacher rasped in her mind. She could almost see him sitting before her, in his favorite rocking chair, lecturing her as he had so many times before.  
:Form is not everything. You concentrate on the form of the spell, but the spirit of it escapes you. Let the Mana flow through you, instead of trying to force it into a particular shape.:  
The Mana? Let it flow through me?  
Great orbs of silver-white light spun away from her as she lifted her staff high into the air.  
So this is what he meant...  
The orbs whirled around the battle-droids in two massive rings of holy flame. When the spheres of light finally dissipated, the robots were scorched and blackened, but they still came on.  
"Angela?"  
Riesz clasped a cool hand on the magician's cheek, bringing her out of the elemental trance she had been in. The golems fired missiles at them, but Hawkeye just deflected the rockets easily with his daggers. Angela lifted a hand, and placed it over her friend's, then turned to face her, eyes gleaming.  
"Let's do it."  
The next volley of missiles was easily burnt away by Angela's magic, freeing the other two fighters to take the offensive. Riesz wasted no time, and leapt down on the first robot with a fierce amazon's battle cry. Hawkeye lingered for a moment, debating on whether or not to leave the princess when she was so deep in spellcasting.  
"Go on, Hawk, I'll be fine." Angela murmured, through the fog of her magic.  
He nodded, and vaulted over to the second golem without a second thought.  
  
Nieva surveyed the impromptu battle with mixed feelings. One part of her wanted to cheer for the princess, her heart was nearly bursting with pride.  
If only Valda could see her now.  
But the other half of her, the frigid soldier, spat in disgust. The amazon with the spear was easily sparring with her mechanized opponent, having already discovered its simple fighting plan. She was obviously very skilled with that spear of hers, the captain could tell from her lithe, almost careless movements. But that carelessness was deceptive, for the golem had hardly marked the tall young woman, and it was already beginning to lose steam.  
And the man, Nieva had never seen anyone quite like him. Men in the army served only as healers or cooks, so the Mage Captain had never seen one in a fight. This one moved so quickly that his knives were like rings of steel, reflecting the bright sunlight. He would dart into melee with the sluggish robot, pull off two or three strikes, then dodge out of the range of the automaton's counterattack. The two robots had long since exhausted their supply of rockets, and were being forced to fight with their spring-loaded arms.  
Victor's going to have a fit when he finds out what happened to his precious robots.  
"Oh!" One of the scouts let out an exclamation of surprise, and pointed directly at Angela. Floating there, just above the princess' head, was the spirit of light, Wisp. He seemed to be grinning, though Nieva could not tell from a distance.  
She has the blessing of an Elemental? So that's how she broke Jose's seal! I'll bet that old fart is laughing his eyes out at us right now!  
One of the machine golems exploded as Angela unleashed a final blast on it. The other was pinned, helpless, to the ground by the amazon's spear. The troops began to turn to their captain with pleading looks in their eyes. None of them would ever ask her to let them retreat, but the looks on their faces were enough to convince her. She sighed.  
"Astra, give the order to retreat. Calaris, set off the self-destruct sequence. You remember the spell, correct?"  
The scientist Victor had assigned to go with the troop nodded, and spoke a few arcane words.  
"It's done." She did not seem very pleased about it. Nieva remembered that Iris had been one of Angela's few friends at the castle. In fact, she had been the one to introduce the princess to the master scientist.  
"Then let's go."  
*************  
"Where are they going?"  
The Altenan soldiers were retreating swiftly.  
"I don't....what's that noise?" Hawkeye looked around warily. A loud siren split the air like the screams of a banshee. "It's gonna blow!"  
They tried desperately to get to the end of the long bridge in time.  
BOOM!!!!  
The explosion sounded behind them.  
"Look out!"  
The resulting shockwave tossed them into the air. Riesz and Hawkeye were thrown clear onto the cliffside, and they rolled on the rock until they came to a stop. When they had gathered their wits and stood up, Angela was no where to be seen.  
"Angela?" Riesz called out into the abyss.  
"Angela?" Echo was the only one to answer Riesz's appellation. The amazon slumped to her knees.  
It can't end like this! Not like this!  
"Angela!" Hawkeye was not so easily put off. He shouted the name several times, until his voice went hoarse. He choked, then tried once again.  
"Angela!"  
"I'm down here, you dolt! Would you cut the melodrama and toss me some rope?"  
Amazon and thief leapt to booted feet and dashed to the cliff's edge as one.  
"Angela? Is that you?" Hawkeye asked, not quite believing his ears.  
"Of course it's me! That rope would be nice right now!"  
Riesz laughed. It was a pleasant, sincere laugh. It was nothing like Jessica's high-pitched giggle.  
I always complained to her about that. Come to think of it, I was complaining most of the time I was with her.  
He shook himself. How he felt did not matter, Jessica still needed to be rescued, and there would be plenty of time to talk about his feelings later. He tied one end of his rope to a large rock, tossed the long cord down to his friend, and sat on the rock to be sure it would not move. Angela clambered up the sheer rock face carefully, and struggled onto the cliff. She muttered a soft thanks, and pulled herself to her feet shakily.  
"Sorry everyone, this is all my fault. They were after me."  
:Actually, I don't think so. You just happened to be here at the wrong time. They were probably after the Mana Stone in Forcena: said the faerie.  
"The Mana Stone in Forcena...but how are we going to get over there now?" Angela pointed at the wide chasm forlornly.  
"Maybe someone in Maia knows another way around. Let's ask around. Who knows? Maybe we'll find a better way!" Riesz began to walk back the way she came.  
"Uh, Riesz? What are we going to do about your spear?" Hawkeye asked. The amazon's spear had disappeared in the explosion.  
"I'll just have to get a new one." Riesz was determined to be optimistic, since Angela seemed to be so melancholy. "Let's get going."  
  
Huh? It's done? Wow. Well, if anyone can guess what the significance of the captain's name is, he/she gets a cookie. With sparkles if you like. Anyway, I'm sorry about the lame battle description, I'm not feeling particularly militant today. If you want to see Nieva again, (or Iris), just post it in a review, and I'll try to work it out.  
  
~Truewind  
  
Oh, ew... I'm so sorry guys! I tried submitting this as a word file, and the result was disastrous. I'm trying to fix it, just bear with me here. 


	7. Author's Note 1

Author's Note (this time it's the real one)  
  
Okay! Glad you guys actually managed to slog through the first few chapters, and are still with me. I'll be skipping game events a little more from here on out, so don't worry if you see a piece of the story missing. If I miss something you think is particularly important, don't be afraid to e-mail me and tell me about it.  
  
Answer Section (I'm not going to bother typing the questions, you know who you are)  
  
Orean: Yes, every character is going to make at least a cameo, maybe more. We'll see how the story goes.  
  
Catherine: Arg! You caught me. The only explanation I have for Angela's change in character is that it was the first time in a while that she got to rest, and she decided to let her barriers down while she could and let out some of her pain. I thought Riesz was kind of cute, totally shameless (kind of like another Riesz I know.^_^). Hmm, as for the zombie, the whole cave expedition was supposed to seem nebulous and mysterious, but I'll go back and write a better description if you'd like.  
  
Naso: I'm sorry, but I already had classes in mind when I started writing the story, and I don't intend to change them. Be at ease though, the Wanderer will not make an appearance in any work of mine, and you can hold me to that. (bleck.)  
  
Thanks for your comments and critiques, I'll try to satisfy everyone, but you all know how hard that is to do. I'll do my best!  
  
~Truewind 


	8. Might and Magic

I've skipped the part where they get Gnome, and we're now in the Molebear Highlands.  
NEW UPDATE: Thank you all for your comments, it helps me to get inspired. Anyway, I'm going to  
answer some burning questions here, like the Riesz/Hawkeye relationship. Normally, I let the  
story flow as it chooses, with little interference, but I've found that I can extend more and  
more of my conscious will into it as I grow as a writer. I actually *chose* to make Riesz and  
Hawkeye fall for each other as quickly as they have, and I have fully taken into account the  
inevitable conflict at the middle of the story.  
  
As for the other characters... ^_^ well, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? I'm no  
fangirl to spoil my own story while it's still in the making!  
  
Might and Magic  
  
  
"Ouch! I think I broke a nail!" Angela rubbed her behind indignantly. "Remind me to whack   
that Bon Jour a good one if we see him again."  
  
"I'll do that, if I can ever get my stomach to sit still again." Hawkeye was looking a bit pale  
around the edges, beneath his tan.  
  
"We're lucky Gnome softened the fall for us, or we'd have a lot worse than just some indigestion   
and a cracked cuticle."  
  
Riesz used her spear like a crutch and pulled herself to her feet.  
  
:You are all right?: The boisterous earth spirit was still bouncing around them frantically.  
  
"Yes, we are. Thank you, Gnome." The amazon bowed courteously, and the elemental disappeared   
at her affirmative. "All right, you two, get up. We have to get to Forcena before dark. I   
seriously doubt that this place is friendly to travelers at night." She surveyed the endless   
hills around them, then turned to glare once again at the others, still on the ground.  
  
"That crazy inventor was friendly, and look where it got us!" Angela said waspishly, but she   
and Hawkeye were already standing up.  
  
"It got us over the lake, okay? And from what I remember of my geography lessons, these hills   
are right next to Forcena!"  
  
Riesz helped them to their feet, and they were soon making their way down the side of the great   
hill. However, when they had reached the bottom, they realized that they were totally lost.   
All around them was a myriad of hills that looked exactly like the one they had just descended.   
They were at a loss as to what direction the grasslands kingdom lay in, but were soon distracted   
by a loud shout.  
  
"HEEEEEY!"  
  
All three of the travelers scoured the area warily, searching for any enemies. The deep,   
booming quality of the voice was vaguely familiar, but they could not understand why. Then,   
they heard it again.  
  
"Hello down there!"  
  
Riesz groaned as she recognized the voice, and Angela's face lost any trace of expression.   
Charging down one of the other hills, in full, clanking battle mail, was the large warrior they   
knew as Duran, and he was making enough noise to have roused some of the zombies back at the   
Cave of Waterfalls.  
  
"I thought we lost him back at Jadd." Muttered the amazon. Angela said nothing  
  
The big fighter somehow came to a stop at the bottom, and presented a lively grin to the three   
companions.  
  
"Glad I found you," he said, "it's real easy to get lost around here, if you don't know where   
you're going."  
  
"You know how to get to Forcena?" Hawkeye asked eagerly. Riesz was looking murderous, and he   
was not sure about how Angela looked. Either way, he wanted to get moving, before one of them,   
or both, exploded. Back in the caves, he had felt comfortable aiding them in handling their   
fear, but anger was beyond him. He just hoped that nothing would come of the way both of them   
were seething.  
  
"Of course I do! I live around here, remember? I'll have us there before dinner!"  
  
He clambered off, still clanking, now humming tunelessly to himself.  
  
"Wait." Angela said. The warrior stopped, and turned around warily.  
  
"Are you going to kick me again?"  
  
That got a smile out of her. Half a smile at any rate.  
  
"How did you get here? I thought you missed the boat out of Jadd."  
  
"I did." He replied. When he did not elaborate, Angela grew impatient.  
  
"So how did you get here? Did you fly?"  
  
"Close. I borrowed one of the big birds those freaks use to get around. They're not nearly as   
bad as they look, rocs, at least once you get to know them." With that, he turned away and   
marched off on an invisible path, still humming.  
  
"I think we should follow him." Hawkeye said cautiously. "He is from around here, after all,   
so he probably knows his way around. We'll be sleeping on the ground if we don't get there   
soon."  
  
"How do we know that he's even telling the truth?" Riesz replied scathingly. She had been   
absent when Duran had insulted Angela, but once she found out, she was incensed.  
  
"Does it matter?" Hawkeye retorted. "Either way, we'd still be out longer than we wanted, so   
we might as well take the chance! What do you think, Angela?"  
  
They turned to her, and she shook her head.  
  
"I can't decide. I don't know what to think of him."  
  
"Are you guys coming?" Duran was good distance away, he traveled much faster than his bumbling   
appearance let on.  
  
"Let's just go." Angela said, after a moment of awkward silence. "We can't do any worse than   
we would if we were by ourselves."  
  
Riesz bit back a sharp reply, and Hawkeye heaved a sigh of relief. They hurried to catch up to   
the fighter, who had disappeared from sight. They rounded a hill, and there he was.  
  
"Knew you'd come. Let's go." He set off at an even quicker pace, and they were hard-pressed to   
follow.  
*************  
  
The fires were visible a good distance away from the city. None of the little band wanted to   
think about what they would find there, yet their minds kept conjuring up images that only grew   
more and more gruesome as they approached. When they were finally there, they discovered that   
the great gates that had protected the city from attack countless times were completely and   
utterly destroyed.  
  
"Jon! Davyd!" Duran raced past the sundered gates and over to a pair of felled men. Riesz   
surveyed the devastation coolly, and decided that siege engines had not caused it.  
  
"Altena must have attacked." She said, her voice kept carefully controlled.  
  
The other two nodded their agreement. A couple of the houses were charred, and there was not a   
soul to be seen on the streets.  
  
Except for the fallen gate guards. Angela mustered her courage, and made her slow way to one of   
the men. What she found horrified and terrified her. The man's features were obscured   
completely, it was as if someone had poured pure fire over his face. His skin had gotten so hot,  
so quickly, that it had actually melted, instead of burning. She knelt over the corpse,   
ignoring the tears that were welling up in her eyes, and gasped. The man was somehow still   
alive! He reached for her feebly with a charred hand, and managed a few words.  
  
"The king...Save the king...Go to the castle..." He coughed, and Angela wished that she could   
somehow comfort him.  
  
"Could you, hold me?" He asked, his mangled eyes full of pleading. The eyes were dark, he   
certainly couldn't see her. Yet he somehow knew she was there. Glad to be able to do something,  
she pulled the man into a gentle embrace, and held him until his last breath expired. Someone   
coughed politely, and she looked up, setting the poor man down like he was made of glass.   
Hawkeye was standing there, with Riesz beside him. Duran was still prostrated over the body of   
his dead friend.  
  
"I think...that someone else needs your help." Hawkeye gestured at the weeping fighter, and   
Angela nodded. She got up, and went over to him.  
  
"He was just a kid! He and I, we used to try to sneak past the palace guards when we were   
little."  
  
It was terrible to see him there, a warrior mourning the loss of a friend and comrade, but   
Angela came to him anyway. She placed a hand on his shoulder, then on his chin, and pulled his   
face around so she could see his eyes. His brown eyes were red with weeping, and tears stained   
his tanned cheeks.  
  
"He's gone, Duran. There's nothing you can do to bring him back."  
  
His eyes went wild with fury, but she braved his rage, knowing that it sprang from his grief.  
  
"What do you know? You're just a girl! A princess, too. Of all the useless..."  
  
"Duran!" Angela did not shout, but he fell silent as if she had. "You can't bring him back,   
but you can avenge him."  
  
He stared at her, not understanding.  
  
"You can get the ones that did this. But..." And she put up a finger to stop him from running   
off. "You can't do it alone. You need our help, and we need a plan. So don't go charging off   
with like your head's just been chopped off!"  
  
Since that was plainly what he had been planning on doing, he said nothing, but Angela sensed   
that she would have to act quickly, or she would lose him.  
  
"Good. All right, can you tell us how the castle is set up?"  
  
"It has one entrance, the main gate, and then it splits off into two parts, the west and east   
wing. There are lots of floors, and the King's chamber is on the top." Duran's voice had a   
peculiar, detached quality about it, as if he was not really thinking about what he was saying.  
  
"That's where we'll find the ones that did this to your friends." Angela turned to the others.  
"Well, I'm not much of a tactician, what do you guys think?"  
  
Hawkeye brushed back an errant strand of dark hair, and frowned. "I'd suggest that we split up.  
We need to make sure that no one gets to the king, so we'll have to separate and catch them all   
that way."  
  
"And we're fighting magic, so we need to have one person in each group that can counter magic."  
Riesz fingered the tip of her spear to be sure of its sharpness. She looked at Angela  
green eyes sparkling. "What do you think we should do, magician?"  
  
Angela plowed blithely forward, ignoring Riesz's heated gaze, "Well, I'm obviously one of the  
mage-snipers. Which of you can take of them quickly enough?"  
  
"I'll go with Riesz." Hawkeye was running a dart through his fingers dextrously, and his grin  
was a bit feral. "They'll never even see us coming. You take plowboy, you can counter their  
magic."  
  
Duran was so immersed in his grief that he did not even notice the jibe. He was just looking  
up at the castle frantically, hand at his sheathed blade.  
  
"All right then, we'll do it this way. Duran and I will crash into the west wing as loud as   
possible. Hopefully that will draw in most of the soldiers. I'm pretty sure I can overpower   
anyone we come across, since I've got two elementals behind me. Hawk, you and Riesz can use the  
diversion we create to take the east wing by stealth. We'll meet at the King's throne room.  
Everyone got it?"  
  
Hawkeye and Riesz nodded. When Duran did not answer, she pinched him viciously on the arm.  
  
"Ouch! What was that for?"  
  
"We're going. Stop moping around."  
  
Riesz, sensitive to the ebb and flow of Mana energy, heard power beneath Angela's words.  
  
"Okay! Let's go!" The big warrior charged off, but not in the fatalistic, manic way that Riesz  
would have expected.  
  
Angela must have meddled with his memories. No grief-stricken boy runs off to avenge his friend  
like it was a game! What's she up to?  
  
"Riesz, come on. We need to be ready to go when the guards go after them."  
  
The thief grabbed her arm and pulled her along with him. The great stone castle loomed ominously  
before them.  
  
************  
  
"Report!"  
  
The female soldier cowered a little as the tall, blond man bent his full attention upon her. He  
was clad in a blue robe with a gold tassle as a belt, but the most distinctive piece of his  
apparel was the long cloak that flew out behind him. It was a brilliant crimson so bright that  
it was supposed to blind the viewer if he or she stared at it too eagerly. The soldier was  
trying desperately not to look at him or his cloak.  
  
"The front gate has been taken, sir! Moderate casualties, east and west corridors under siege,  
sir!"  
  
"Excellent. I'll pay a visit to his Majesty."  
  
The Wizard of the Red Lotus whirled to face the gate, and vanished. The soldier sighed, and  
went quickly to join her comrades in the siege of the castle.  
  
************   
  
"That was Koren, wasn't it?" Riesz kept her voice to a low whisper, and she was nearly on top of  
him. She and Hawkeye were crowded into a tiny crevice, waiting for the frenzied guards to clear  
the area.  
  
"I think so. I've never met him. Angela knew him, but she doesn't talk about him much. Duran  
was mentioning something about a wizard in a red cape in the jail, but I didn't really take him  
seriously. He seemed really mad at the bloke. Wonder why?"  
  
"Who cares? Let's just get on with this. See, all the guards are gone."  
  
The guards were indeed gone, and the amazon attempted to lift herself out of their mutual hiding  
place.  
  
"Hey! Watch it!"  
  
Both of them tumbled out in a tangle of bodies as Riesz pulled Hawkeye out with her. They  
struggled to separate themselves, but that only served to make the situation even worse. As they  
writhed, Hawkeye felt Riesz's warmth enveloping him. It was not an unpleasant sensation.  
  
Hey, this isn't so bad. he thought. Riesz was warm, and her warmth was comfortable, like the  
sun on the desert when it first rises, and the air is still cool from the night. She smelled  
of leather and oil, as any good fighter should smell. He felt himself strangely drawn to her.  
He had never felt this way before, not even with Jessica.  
  
Riesz struggled with the young man intertwined with her limbs, but she was concealing something  
with all her fighting. When they finally managed to separate themselves from each other, she  
stood up and brushed herself off, praying that Hawkeye was not feeling the same thing she was  
at that moment.  
  
"Riesz...I..." Fearing what she would see, she turned, and he was there, seated on the marble  
floor still. As she watched, he extended a golden hand, and slowly began to stand. Her heart's  
beat quickened, time slowed, and all of her senses seemed to be attuned to the beautiful, young  
man that was reaching longingly for her. Warmth ran up and down her entire body like liquid  
fire. The tips of her fingers tingled, and she felt blood rush to her face. She took in his  
fingers, so long and slender, and then the strong arms that had saved her from death many times.  
Then she followed the arm up to his face, his angular, tanned countenance. Black eyes gazed at  
her, and she felt something resonate between them.  
  
No, this can't be happening! We have a mission to complete, duties to fulfill, we don't have  
time to fall in love!  
  
************  
  
Angela knocked away the blast savagely almost as soon as it left the magician's staff, and Duran  
coldly cut the doll to pieces. It disappeared with a soft bang, but there were more coming.  
  
"How many are there?" Duran said, exasperated, after yet another onslaught had been repelled.  
  
"I've counted at least thirty since we broke into the courtyard, and that doesn't include the  
unicorn statues you cut apart."  
  
The big youth blinked a couple of times, he had not expected his companion to keep track of the  
enemy. Hell, he hadn't, and he was a trained warrior! He took a long look at her during one of  
the infrequent pauses in the flow of battle, really looked at her, and found that he very much  
liked what he saw.  
  
When they had been imprisoned in the dark of the Castle City's jails, Duran had not really given  
much thought to the voice that lilted like a cat's purr, or the delicate manner with which she  
breathed. Even when he had seen her in the light, he had only been stricken by her physical  
beauty. For a moment, she looked almost like a vengeful goddess, poised to deliver holy  
retribution on the ones who violated her followers.  
  
Then, her eyes, so disturbingly golden, met his, and she smirked. She twitched her hips just so,  
and he knew that she was not the pampered princess he had thought.  
  
"Like what you see?"  
  
Angela had caught the oaf ogling her, and made use of the situation expertly. She would do  
everything in her power to keep him from breaking the bonds she had laid about his grief.  
So she wiggled her hips a little to get his attention, then held it with the golden gaze he  
seemed to be so fascinated by. But all her concentration shattered when the voice rang down  
her shared bond with the elementals.  
  
:No! We don't have time to fall in love!:  
  
Riesz?  
  
She pushed away from Duran impatiently, and he frowned at her oddly. Ignoring him, she listened  
for Riesz's voice to call again. When nothing more came to her, Angela decided to consult the  
faerie.  
  
:I heard, Angela. It is Riesz, though I can't reach her. She is in turmoil, and I'm not  
certain why. I can't reach Hawkeye, either.:  
  
"But what's wrong? What's Riesz thinking?"  
  
:I told you, I can't tell! But I should think that it would be fairly obvious, since the only  
one near to Riesz is Hawk!:  
  
For the first time, the faerie sounded angry, and had to visibly force herself to calm down.  
  
"What are you saying?" Angela continued blithely, and Duran snorted. The princess whirled on  
him. "What was that for?"  
  
"You're dense about the weirdest things, princess."  
  
And he would say no more.  
  
:At any rate, the monsters have stopped attacking, I think that we should head toward the Throne  
Room.: The faerie disappeared, and Angela just followed Duran, mentally swearing at her own  
stupidity. It was Hawkeye that Riesz was pining over.  
  
************  
  
"We can't tell them about this." Riesz said quickly, as she stood up with equal agility.  
  
"I think it's too late for that." Hawkeye said. "I think they already know."  
  
"But you have a fiance! I have a kingdom to rule! We can't..."  
  
"No, we can't. That, at least we both agree on." Hawkeye's features clouded, and he retreated  
from her to put up the facade of serenity once more.  
  
"So what do we do?" asked the amazon, now desperate, caught between longing and frustration.  
  
"Nothing. We move on. Let's go. We can probably still meet them before the Throne Room."  
  
So they kept moving. Riesz hoped that concentrating on the way her bootheels clicked on the  
marble floors would prevent her from hearing the sound of Hawkeye's low breathing.  
  
What is happening to me? I'm no silly, lovesick, vapid lady-creature! What's wrong with me? I  
will have to marry to the advantage of my kingdom, not fall into hopeless love with a...a...  
thief!  
  
She had once thought that there was no more room in her heart. Between Eliot, her deceased  
parents, and the kingdom of Laurant, she had believed her heart filled, with no room for a third  
love. Her family and her people, life had once been simple for her.  
  
Angela and Duran were there when Riesz and Hawkeye arrived, both of them looked exhausted.  
  
"Where were you two? We've been waiting ages! Never mind, let's hurry in, maybe the King is  
still alive." Angela put a hand on the large doorknob, and began to turn it, but Duran's hand  
whipped out suddenly, ensnaring her hand in a lunatic grasp. She cried out, but not from the  
pain, the fighter had broken his mental bonds.  
  
"The King? Davyd...Jon... You, you bewitched me!"  
  
She met his eyes squarely, and the other two were poised to intervene should she need their  
help.  
  
"Yes, and I'm not sorry I did it."  
  
"How...how could you..."  
  
"Paralyze your mind? When you were about to go and get yourself killed? I don't think that  
magic was the only thing clouding your mind, Duran of Forcena."  
  
She shook off his hand, and opened the door.  
  
***********  
  
"So, you are King Richard? And the Knights of Gold? Hah!"  
  
The Wizard of the Red Lotus stood before the great throne, laughing heartily at the middle-aged  
man seated there. Two men lay beside the throne, already prostrated by Koren's powerful magic.  
  
"Yes, I am. And you are the Crimson Wizard, of whom I've heard so much?"  
  
Koren laughed again, and the King shuddered. The sound was high, piercing, and the man's high  
tenor was not pleasant to listen to.  
  
"Of course! I have been sent by your lover to slay you by fire. Ironic, no?"  
  
The King took in his breath sharply. The red-cloaked wizard was shrewd, he knew of Richard's  
affair with Valda.  
  
"Ah, struck a chord, have I? A sensitive spot? So sorry. Any last words before you die, old  
man?"  
  
"STOP!"  
  
A young woman's voice thundered through the room, and Koren whipped around. Angela stood there,  
hands on her shapely hips, golden eyes burning with suppressed rage. The wizard noticed three  
other figures behind her, but that was all, before the princess brandished her staff and began  
pushing toward him.  
  
"Koren..." she growled, deep in her throat. The sound made Koren shiver. When she swung at  
him, he nearly did not dodge, he was so distracted.  
  
"Hah!" he laughed. "Fancy meeting you here, princess! And your little friends!" He turned  
his gaze to the King, "I suppose we'll have to wait to settle this, dear Richard, until the  
babies have gone to sleep." He cackled one last time, and disappeared as a ray of holy light  
seared the spot he might have occupied.  
  
"Red Wizard!!! I'll never forgive you!" Duran broke past Riesz and Hawkeye, and hammered down  
the corridor toward one of the windows. His progress stopped abruptly when Angela hit him  
solidly on the head with her staff.  
  
"Get some sense into that thick skull of yours!"  
  
"Yes, Duran, please try to calm yourself." The King rose from the throne, and came down from the  
dais to touch his friend's son on the forehead. "You and your friends have done much for this  
kingdom, but that wizard is beyond you for now."  
  
Duran made mutinous noises but, nursing his aching skull, submitted, and knelt at his liege's  
knees.  
  
"Who exactly was that wizard, anyway?" Riesz asked, "Angela didn't exactly have a lot of time  
to explain while we were planning to enter the castle."  
  
The King looked up at the amazon, as if noticing her for the first time, but answered quickly  
enough.  
  
"That was the Wizard of the Red Lotus, Koren Lioutte, master of fire, Magic Protector of   
Altena..."  
  
"The Crimson Mage, of course, Valda's little pet." Angela interrupted before the King could go   
further. "He has athousand names, none of them earned honestly. He couldn't even use magic   
before, he just sprangup as the best magician in Altena and Mother's advisor, all at once."  
  
Riesz could hear a note of bitterness in Angela's words, and a bit of jealousy for a position  
that the princess should have held for her mother. But she was surprised to see the King's  
expression after Angela's words.  
  
"You lived in Altena? You know Valda?"  
  
Riesz rather thought that he looked like someone had just dropped the wrong end of a poleaxe on  
his head.  
  
"Yes, she's my mother."  
  
"Valda had a daughter?!!"  
  
************  
  
Okay, I'll stop there. I saw some major missing parts about Angela's lineage in the game, so I'm  
going to fill them in my way. Guess who the father is?  
  
Anyway, thanks for the comments, guys, they help a lot.  
  
~Truewind 


	9. Where the Wind Ends

Where the Wind Ends  
  
"Valda had a daughter?"  
  
The king stood up suddenly, and came down from the raised dais to  
scrutinize the young princess carefully. What he saw there, she did not  
know, but he seemed unnerved by it.  
  
"Yes, I am my mother's daughter. But why do you ask?"  
  
She stared back at him with such a comical expression on her face that the  
king was forced to chuckle.  
  
"Nothing, dear, nothing."  
  
"What do you mean nothing?" Angela said, suddenly angry. He obviously knew  
something, and she wanted it out of him.  
  
"Hey, don't talk to the king like that!" Duran interposed his large body  
between the two royals, but the king called him down.  
  
"Duran, I am in no danger. Stand down."  
  
"Yessir." said Duran. And he did, leaving Angela to face the king once  
again, still glaring.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"I told you, it's nothing that you need to be concerned with."  
  
"But..."  
  
:Majesty.:  
  
Before Angela could finish her retort, the faerie manifested before her.  
The king, unlike the others when they had seen the faerie for the first  
time, did not recoil in surprise. In fact, he almost seemed resigned to  
some unspoken purpose.  
  
"You are a faerie from the Mana Holyland?"  
  
:Yes, I am, Majesty. How did you know?:  
  
"I was once a faerie bearer myself. Back in my dragon hunting days. But  
those days are long past now, and that faerie died in the war, so you must  
be a different faerie. Does this mean what I fear it does?"  
  
:Yes, Majesty, the world is threatened once again.:  
  
The king sighed, and turned to Duran, who was kneeling off to the side.  
  
"So, I suppose this means that your companions were not here solely to save  
  
my kingdom?"  
  
Duran did not answer. Riesz spoke for him, instead, since Angela was still  
seething over the king's unspoken secret.  
  
"No, Majesty. We came to see you, yes, but we did not anticipate an attack.  
  
We were ambushed on the bridge while on our way to see you."  
  
:We are seeking the aid of the Elemental Spirits, Majesty.: said the  
faerie. Gnome and Wisp teleported in.  
  
:Howdy!: said Gnome.  
  
:Hello!: said Wisp.  
  
The king took a slow step away. Apparently, he had never seen an elemental  
before, but was too well mannered to show any rudeness to such exalted  
creatures. The faerie saved him from needing to say anything.  
  
:So far, we've found the Spirits of Light and Earth, Majesty. Do you know  
where the rest are in hiding?:  
  
"The Spirits?"  
  
Perhaps sensing the king's discomfort, the two elementals disappeared, back  
  
to their respective homes. Richard's brow furrowed with deep thought, then  
his eyes brightened suddenly, as if he were remembering something.  
  
"There was an old legend, I seem to recall. I am not certain, but I  
believe I can tell you where the spirits lie."  
  
:Truly?: the faerie was excited, :They have been apart for so long that  
none of them remember where the others live. Please tell us?:  
  
"Very well," said the king, "but you will need to find Jinn before any of  
the others."  
  
"Why is that?" asked Riesz. "What does it matter how we go about looking  
for them?"  
  
"Well, you see..." The king did not blush, but Riesz could tell that he  
was embarrassed. "The legend comes in the form of an old children's rhyme,  
and it goes in a very specific order."  
  
:I understand, Majesty.: The faerie turned to Riesz. :I think I know what  
he is talking about. But the references of the rhyme are very vague. I am  
not familiar with the world beyond the Mana Holyland, so I can't tell you  
where to go.:  
  
"I may be able to assist you in that capacity."  
  
Richard turned and ascended to his throne once again, all traces of his  
earlier loss of composure erased. He seated himself easily, and looked  
down at them with an air of power none of the travelers would challenge.  
He was definitely King Richard of Forcena now.  
  
"The legend says that light and earth were the first protectors of Mana."  
  
:The Goddess created Wisp and Gnome before all the others, yes.: agreed  
the faerie.  
  
"Jinn was the third protector, set to guard 'where the wind ends'. I  
believe that the place in question is the mountain kingdom, Laurant."  
  
Riesz gasped, and everyone turned to look at her.  
  
"Riesz?" Hawkeye looked faintly worried.  
  
"Not inside Laurant?" Angela said, her irritation with the king forgotten.  
  
"No." Riesz recovered herself. "Not inside. I think I know where it is  
now. Jinn must be in the Cavern of the wind Mana Stone."  
  
"You know where the Stone is?" The king was surprised.  
  
"Of course, my mother took me there when I was younger. I never met Jinn,  
though. The mountains of my home are surrounded by a constant tempest, but  
the Stone is in a cave, protected from the wind. So, it is where the wind  
ends, the answer to the riddle."  
  
"Wow, Riesz, I'm impressed." Angela did look genuinely proud of her  
friend, and her white teeth flashed prettily at the amazon. Duran gulped  
audibly.  
  
"Indeed." said the king.  
  
But Duran was not so calm.  
  
"Who are you people?" he blurted. The king gave him a withering look, and  
he subsided, but Hawkeye was content to answer the question.  
  
"Princess Angela," he pointed to the girl with the violet hair and golden  
eyes, "of Altena. Riesz probably has a similar title, but I don't know  
about Laurant politics."  
  
"I'm not sure what I am anymore." Riesz muttered.  
  
"And you, young man? Are you a prince?" The king asked dryly.  
  
"I'm a thief, Majesty."  
  
"A thief?" Duran actually pulled out his big sword.  
  
"Put that sticker away, fool." said Hawkeye. Incensed, Duran started to  
rush him, but Angela caught his clothing with her staff, and Riesz swept  
his feet out from beneath him.  
  
"Duran, please stop acting like a child." The king sighed, and favored the  
three travelers with a pained gaze. "I think it is time for you three to  
go. Goddess be with you on your way."  
  
"Goddess bless." replied Riesz. They bowed in unison, and left the throne  
room. As they descended the stairs to the courtyard, they discussed their  
next movements.  
  
"Are we off to Laurant, then?" Angela asked tentatively. She was not sure  
if Riesz would be willing to go backt to her home country so soon after the  
loss of the castle.  
  
:It's necessary, if we are to open the gate to the Mana Holyland.:  
  
"Yes, we have to." Riesz bit her tongue to keep from saying more.  
Memories of her amazon sisters struck her like blows.  
  
"So we'll get Jinn, and retake the castle in one move. I think it's a  
great idea."  
  
Riesz looked at Hawkeye, not comprehending his words.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I said..."  
  
"I know what you said. How can we take the castle, all by ourselves?  
We're just three people." She spread her hands in a gesture of  
helplessness. "It doesn't matter, anyway. Everyone is gone."  
  
"Are you absolutely sure?"  
  
Riesz blinked. Hawkeye was failing to make sense again.  
  
"You aren't, then. What if even one of your people survived the attack.  
Could you really forgive yourself if she died because you didn't come to  
save her in time?"  
  
"And we aren't exactly helpless, you know." said Angela. "Do you have  
people that throw balls of light around there? I doubt it. We laid siege  
to this castle by ourselves, and won."  
  
"Well, sort of." Hawkeye interjected.  
  
"Shut up ninja boy, you're not helping our point."  
  
"Just trying to keep it as truthful as possible."  
  
"Anyway, if we did it once, we can do it again. I doubt this...what was  
her name again?"  
  
"Isabelle." said Hawkeye.  
  
"Bigieu." said Riesz, at the same time. They looked at each other,  
bewildered.  
  
"We are talking about the same person, right?"  
  
"It doesn't really matter. I doubt that she is any stronger than Koren,  
and he ran away as soon as he saw us."  
  
:Regardless,: said the faerie, :we must go and seek Jinn in the mountain  
zone. We can decide along the way.:  
  
"Wait!"  
  
They turned around quickly. Duran was running down the stairs, huffing and  
puffing as usual, and clanking in his heavy armor. He screeched to a halt  
in front of them, and took a moment to catch his breath.  
  
"Good, you haven't left yet. King Richard says to tell you that Bon  
Voyage's cannon should be ready. It's out in the courtyard."  
  
"Duran..." Angela began.  
  
"I'm coming with you." said the big warrior. When the other three started  
to shake their heads. "You can't leave me behind. You'll need every man  
you can get if you're going to take that castle. So I'm coming with you."  
  
"Duran, you can't...you can't leave the king now! Forcena's defences have  
massive holes in them. YOU need every man you can get." Angela stopped as  
she saw him grin. "What?"  
  
"You think we sit on our mundane asses here in Forcena?" He laughed. "The  
king has spies in Altena, we've already got a detachment on the way there.  
Altena is gonna be way to busy to be attacking anyone for a while."  
  
"What if the Beast Kingdom attacks?" Hawkeye asked. "They're just south  
of here. How will you protect the city from them?"  
  
"Oh, them. They're no problem."  
  
"You didn't see Astoria when they were done with it." Hawkeye said  
grimly. "I think you underestimate them."  
  
"One man isn't going to make a difference. I found that out when Koren  
attacked the first time. I've already made my decision, so let's get  
going."  
  
He started down the stairs, and would not listen to any further arguments.  
Angela, however, was having serious second thoughts.  
  
"Bon Voyage? Cannon? Not again!"  
  
The rest of the group laughed, and they made their way into the courtyard  
with smiles on their faces.  
  
*******************  
  
Okay, hope you guys like it. It's kind of a filler chapter, no fighting,  
but I thought it was necessary. Sorry about the Angela's father question,  
I didn't feel it was the right time to answer it.  
  
Ja ne!  
  
~Truewind 


	10. Author's Note 2

Author's Note to His Readers

Well, I'm sure you've all noticed that I haven't updated this fanfic for a while. Worry not, work is being accomplished, despite my massive writer's block. It's just happening behind the scenes.

Anyway, Sinnatious makes me feel bad for not responding to all you lovely people who have stayed with me through this fic. I promise that it will be long (hell, I'm not even halfway through yet! ^_^) but hopefully good. I really do love your reviews, they help me write the story.

Classes are set up as follows: Angela: Archmage; Duran: Lord; Hawkeye: Nightblade; Riesz: Vanadis. I will take suggestions for the remaining two characters. In fact, I would love them, because I'm having trouble myself! ^^;;;

Solarious: Alas, but the computer has eaten my copy of Duran's little part with Wisp. I do have the manuscript, but it may take me a while to get it typed up. I apologize. I'm glad that you like the explanations.

Sinnatious: Thanks! The class changes always fascinated me, and I thought I did a pretty good job. Glad someone agrees with me. I wish I could stick more humor into my fics, like you do, but it seems like my humor always comes out dark and cynical.

Kurai: You know I love ya! ^_~ Thanks for the review. I thought you might like the Darkshine description.

Bittersweet: Well, I don't know about my characterization being perfect, but thank you. Hope you stick with me!

Rosa-Aquafire: Well, you know how I feel about this. I like Hawkeye as a Ninja, so that's how he's going to stay. I hope that doesn't ruin the story for you. The elemental trance comes back later on, by the way. Oh, and Riesz isn't butch, she's just uncomfortable around men. That's just how she leads me to write her in the story. If a guy goes over the age of fourteen, she's got problems. She'll get over it, I think.

Weila: Don't worry, it took me forever to find your fic, too. And I love it. I'm just a lazy bum who doesn't review very often. _ _; I'll work on that.

Naso: I like poking fun at Duran. He has a good heart, though. I think you'll like how he turns out.

To everyone: If you'd like a minor character to return in the story, put him/her up for it. I'm notoriously lazy, so I may drop a character or two, and it would be good of you to remind me. As of now, Iris is the only one coming back.

Thank you all for sticking with me. Part II of Siege is massive, so it's taking me a long time. I do hope it's worth it for you all!

Your resident Wind Priest,

~Truewind


	11. Sylphid's Siege

Sylphid's Siege

A shiver ran down Riesz's spine as she stepped down from the sturdy little ship that had carried her and her three companions from Maia. The air around her was dead as the amazon had never felt it in the little fishing village of Palo.

"Riesz, come on!" Angela called back from the dock. Seeing Riesz's pained expression, the magician frowned. "What's wrong?"

"The wind…I can't hear it. It's not even crying…"

Though it had been weeks since the Navarran raiders had taken the castle, Riesz still remembered the day as if it had just happened. The desperate look on her brother's face, the amazons lying stunned all around the castle, her father dying in her arms…all these images were seared into her mind, she burned with the need to avenge. The silence of the air was just a reminder of the pain she had endured for the past weeks.

"We're here, Riesz." Duran put a big hand on Riesz's shoulder. That hand was warm, and Riesz could see understanding in his brown eyes. They were eyes still haunted by the deaths of his comrades on the walls of Forcena Castle, men he had led and depended on. The young warrior knew what it was to lead, and to lose. "We'll get them for they did to you, don't worry about it." Riesz let him bundle her into a warm hug before they set out into the small town.

"The Navarre Kingdom has occupied this village. King Flamekhan is in control here, do not interfere."

Hawkeye stared at the ninja who had spoken to them as they passed from the docks into the city. The man's voice was husky and dull, as though there were no emotions behind his words, and Hawkeye could not see his eyes past the mask. And yet, he was someone Hawkeye knew. A name came to the thief's mind: Alan. The thief's name was Alan. But this was not the Alan he knew, not the one who had out-drunk every man and woman in the Guild, with his boisterous personality and deadly skill with bombs.

The group of four walked into the center of the town unmolested, and Hawkeye was greeted by yet another familiar face.

"Nikita!" The cat-man was in an alleyway, hidden from sight, but Hawkeye saw him anyway. But when his fellow in crime turned at the sound, Hawkeye could see that his friend's eyes were dead, just as the guard Alan's voice had been. "Nikita!" He said, more desperately. "Nikita! It's me, Hawk!"

The cat-man continued to stare off into space. Hawkeye tried vainly to wake his friend up, but nothing he could do would rouse Nikita. Angela gently pushed Hawkeye, whose limbs hung about him, out of the way, and stared into Nikita's eyes.

"What's the verdict, princess?" asked Hawkeye in a strained voice.

"It's a charm, something like what I used on Duran back in Forcena. Only the caster used some kind of magic I've never seen before."

__

:That's because it's Shade's magic. Shade is the spirit of darkness. This charm is more like a curse, and you won't be able to break it on one person without breaking it for all of them.: The faerie sounded very sad, she was picking up Hawkeye's sorrow. _:Angela, you shouldn't try it. It would alert whoever cast it that we're here, and you probably wouldn't be able to break it anyway.:_

"So what do we do, leave him like this?" Riesz went to Hawkeye, and helped him up. Then she held him in a comforting embrace while he gathered his wits.

"No." Duran's face was grave for the first time they had seen it. "We kill the bastard that did it."

"But we can't just attack head-on!" Angela said, but she knew it was futile. The anger was too deep in her friends to be satisfied by anything but a frontal assault. Riesz was still thinking about her amazons, and Hawkeye was thinking about the ninjas, enslaved by some mysterious power and stripped of their wills. Duran was angry for both of them, and this only echoed his own experience in Forcena.

__

:Riesz, do you think that any of the amazons survived the attack?: The faerie did not appear, but she was with them all the same.

"I don't know. The castle has never fallen before. There were no escape routes. But…" Riesz broke off, still trying to bring Hawkeye back to them.

"But what?" Asked Angela.

"But I think some of them might have survived."

:Then we should find them first. And Jinn, he lives on this mountain as well.: 

In the end, they were forced to use evil-smelling salts to snap Hawkeye out of his trance. He was very embarrassed when they revived him, and he retreated, once again, inside himself. On went the happy mask, and the others were content to let him wear it as they made the arduous journey up the mountainside.

"You know, I used to like birds." Hawkeye said as he casually ripped open one of the pink birds whose beaks were long and thin, like needles.

"Nah, only on a stick. And roasted. That's the only way." Replied Duran, slicing another length-wise.

"You're supposed to put rabites on a stick, not needlebirds…whoa!"

Hawkeye jumped back as a whining, purple blur whizzed past him to impale one of the monster birds on the rock face. Gnome was bouncing energetically around Angela, and she flashed a white smile at the thief.

"Learned a new trick, eh princess?"

"Yep!"

Then it was the princess' turn to jump as Riesz materialized behind her, spearing a needlebird with some apprehension.

"Hey you two! Pay attention to what you're doing!"

Hawkeye grinned, but he noticed that the light was fading quickly.

"Thank you, Mother. Is it past my bedtime?" He pointed up at the darkening sky, and leaned easily on a rock. Angela joined him, and they stared petulantly at the amazon. Disgusted, she threw up her hands and stalked away.

"Hey you clowns!" called Duran. "While you were fooling around, I was getting dinner." He brandished a long stick with several cleaned bird carcasses impaled on it. Though a few months ago, Angela would have blanched at the sight, her mouth watered after weeks on the road.

"Then let's hurry up and set up camp!" said Hawkeye. "There's a cave nearby we can use. Call Riesz, and we can get started on cooking those things."

When they arrived at the cave, Angela tossed one of her balls of light into the cave. It exploded, and they heard several birds squeal. A small flock of the pink birds soared out, their tails singed, squawking indignantly. A tiny demon dashed out after them, his tail dripping white flames as he flew. Another ball of light formed in Angela's hand, and she hurled it at the fleeing devil. An intense beam of light rained down on the devil, and he evaporated.

She grinned savagely, and the others drew back a little. The snooty little princess had come a long way from her original self, the fragile ice girl from Altena. The road had hardened her, though she was still prone to random bouts of passion.

"Well, let's go inside." She said, casually. So they did, all of them much subdued.

:What do you need for the night?: asked the faerie, once they had settled in. She bobbed around, checking for any devils that might still be hiding in cracks. 

"Everything, faerie," answered Duran. "we'll need to be in good shape if we're going to attack the Castle that Never Fell."

:Good, I'll access the Inventory. I wish you would let me do it more often, you all deserve it.: 

"No," said Angela, firmly, "you need to rest your magic, not use it up just for silly things. Though I could use some chocolate…"

__

:Done!: The minute scion of Mana settled down on a rock and accessed the portal into the negative-space dimension pocket known as the Inventory. Early on, she had taught the group that she could keep an almost infinite amount of their possessions in it, making the trip much easier to bear. Her justification for the use of magic was that they had enough to do with fighting monsters, it was the least she could do. So she pulled out sleeping bags for all of them, and a bit of chocolate for the girls.

"Mmm…this is really good, lunkhead." Hawkeye was busy devouring a roasted needlebird. "I think you've changed my mind."

Duran turned around from the fire and brandished a long knife. The other three burst into frantic laughter as he did. He was wearing a ridiculous cook's smock several sizes too small that said _Kiss the Cook_. They laughed helplessly until he came over, and the laughter turned into a good-natured brawl involving males and females. The faerie laughed along with them, though she looked toward the next day, when they would be in a battle like none they had experienced before.

At the dawn of the next day, the group of four travelers resumed their mountain trek. Riesz carefully directed her friends away from the castle, knowing that guards would be posted in large numbers all about it. The area was easily defended, and difficult to attack.

__

They don't call it the Castle That Never Fell for no reason. She thought to herself.

There were small groups of ninja guards, but they were not, according to Hawkeye, up to their usual standard of covert swashbuckling.

"The mind-control, probably." He remarked, cleaning his blades of blood on his most recent kill's tunic. It made Riesz a little sick to think that he could kill his own people so callously.

But then, the living death of mind-control was most likely worse than real death. Not having experience with either version, she could hardly make a judgment of him.

"Riesz, where do we go now?" Angela looked at her, eyes twinkling with good humor, left over from the previous night.

There was one last place that Riesz knew, one last place her people might be. "The top of the mountain." She said simply. It wasn't _the_ top of the mountain, but it was the highest point anyone who was not an amazon had ever seen.

Once there, Riesz nearly dissolved into tears again. No one was there. Not one of her sisters had survived. They had looked everywhere. She saw the world begin to go dark, and the last thing she saw was the blossom of a beautiful flower…

"Uhn…" she struggled to wake up. Unconsciousness weighed down on her like a lead anvil. When she finally managed to wrench open her eyes, she looked around. Somehow, she was seated in a somewhat less than comfortable bed next to accompanying beds that bore her friends. Well, Duran was on the floor, but he seemed to be in good condition.

"Oh!" Riesz looked up when she heard the sound of a familiar voice, one of those she had thought she would never hear again. "Miss Riesz, you're awake! When your friends wake up, will you join us in the conference room?"

In the brisk manner that was so familiar, Alya, one of Riesz's fastest amazon friends, left the room without waiting for an answer. She blinked once, then again, and was hard-pressed to keep the tears back again. Her people were alive! She reached over to touch Angela, and the older girl groaned.

"Jose…I don't want to have lessons today."

"Angela! Wake up!" Riesz slapped the magician lightly on her pale cheek, startling her awake and wide-eyed.

"What? Riesz? Where are we?"

"They're alive!" gushed Riesz as she clasped her friend in a vice-like grip.

"Alive…the amazons!"

Riesz just sobbed, and Angela held her for a while, the boys blithely oblivious in sleep.

The conference room was awash in anxious energy when the four of them walked in. Riesz rushed to embrace the Elder, but he put up a hand to stay her.

"We must retake the castle." Said the old man. He coughed, a deep, body-shaking cough that made Riesz want to steady him. But he recovered, and spoke again. "It cannot be said that the great nation of Laurant did not fight for her own!"

A cheer went up around the room. When it subsided, the Elder spoke into the silence. "Princess Riesz has returned to us, now is the time for the charge."

Another cheer. Angela was dumbfounded. She had seen the women out in the caves that made up the base. They would never be able to take the castle, not with half of there number wounded and the other half suicidal. She decided that _someone_ would have to speak up for sanity, since Riesz obviously not going to.

"Do you have some way of incapacitating the Navarran guards?" she asked soberly. The cheer ended abruptly. None of the fierce, formidable women had given a thought to the actual fight, blinded as they were by their love for their home. "I didn't think so. May I make a suggestion?"

The Elder looked to Riesz, who nodded. He gestured for Angela to continue.

"The wind spirit, Jinn, lives on this mountain." She said. "He should be able to help us. How did the ninjas bring down your defenses in the first place?"

"The sleeping flower." Said an old woman.

__

Alma. Angela knew the woman from Riesz's description. She was the nanny of Riesz's younger brother, Elliot.

"They used the sleeping flower to put everyone in the castle to sleep." Alma's voice shook as she relived the experience, but Angela knew somehow that the information she was about to reveal would be vital to any sane attack on the nearly impregnable castle, so she did not tell the woman to stop.

"But the flower is only useful for one application." She continued. "After that, it loses its efficacy, and the victim can smell it freely."

"Then we can use it to put the raiders to sleep." Angela's sharp mind easily picked up the implications. Using wind magic, they could easily induce sleep on the entire castle of invaders, then retake the castle the same way it had been taken in the first place.

"We can handle that." Said Duran, and Angela smiled at him.

"But this is not your fight…" started the Elder. Duran shook his head.

"It is our fight. Riesz is our friend, we'll fight with her. Let us find Jinn, and we'll work from there."

"How many of these fricking caves are there?" Duran was engaged in a duel with one of the dwarf swordsman that inhabited the caves of the mountain. He feinted, ducked back, then slapped the dwarf's sword easily onto the ground. Duran let him escape, there was no point in killing him anyway. The entire mountain seemed to be alerted to the presence of the four teenage warriors, so Duran didn't bother to expend the energy necessary to chase him down, all of the other creatures knew that they were there.

"A lot. But we should get there soon."

Riesz was the first in line, so she was also the first to see the sunlight at the end of the tunnel. When they stepped out, she grinned at Duran, who just sulked childishly. They soon found the last cave, and walked inside.

The place literally _hummed_ with energy. Even though there was no wind, Riesz got the impression that there was, a great gale caused by massive wings. A silent raptor's cry echoed in her head, as she gazed at the massive stone that nearly swallowed up the cave with its vastness.

__

:That's the Mana Stone of Wind.: said the faerie. She manifested above Angela's head, and bobbed through the air over to the Stone. _:One of the eight Mana Beasts is sealed inside.:_

"Mana Beast?" asked Duran.

:Yes. One of the eight demonic beings that the Goddess sealed away at the beginning of time.: 

"Oh." He shut up quickly.

:A Mana Stone is a source of energy, too. That's why the spell to break the seal was cursed. Once, nations could use a Stone's power to benefit their inhabitants, and everyone lived peacefully. You all know how that turned out.: 

"That's the seal Mother was talking about!" Angela's face suddenly went even paler than usual, and she took a step back from the Stone.

"Angie? What's wrong?" Hawkeye put a hand on the magician's shoulder, but she jerked away violently.

"She tried to kill me…She would have killed me."

"What?" Hawkeye's voice was sharp, and the others winced. 

"I have no idea." Replied Riesz. Duran shook his head.

:Her mother wanted to use her body as a focus to break the seal on Altena's Stone.: The faerie floated quickly over to the young woman. :Angela, please. You must try to focus on what is happening now. We are all your friends, we would never hurt you. We want to protect the seals, not break them.: 

"But…all right." Angela visibly reined in her wits, though she did look down to recover herself. As she did, however, she gasped. "Look! Footprints!"

The footprints led to a hidden exit none of them had seen before. Angela started to go out, but Duran lightly grabbed her hand, pulling her back inside gently.

"The fortune teller told me about the Stones. They're supposed to do something called class changing. If you're experienced enough. Stupid freak wouldn't even tell me how to do it, though."

:Well, Duran is right. I believe you all would benefit from the class change.: 

Duran, eager as ever, walked quickly up to the Stone, and twisted his body around to ask the faerie,

"What do I do?"

:Just concentrate.: 

He reached out to touch the Stone, and let himself sink into its consciousness.

"Where am I?" __

He tried to move, but found that he could not. He tried to look around, but all he could see was a bright, white light.

"Duran…you have grown so much."

"Mama?"

The voice he heard was sweet and lovely, the voice of Loki's wife, Symone.

"You're so handsome, just like your father."

"Mama, where are you?" he asked, desperately attempting to free himself from the bonds he could not feel.

"Take up your father's shield, Duran. You already have his sword. Use both of them to help your friends." __

"Mama…" he sobbed. A cool hand reached out to touch his cheek, tears streamed down over it from his eyes.

"I love you, Duran. Keep yourself and your friends safe." The voice of his mother began to fade away, and he still could not move.

"Mama!"

"Don't cry, Duran…I love you very much…" 

He woke up, a cold metal object under the hand of the arm he did not use to wield his sword. His ruddy cheeks were dry, untouched by his dream tears. He opened his eyes, the others were staring at him. The metal object on the ground beneath his hand was a large, green and gold shield…

"How was it?" asked Hawkeye as Duran sat up wearily.

"I'm…not sure." Replied the new Knight. Duran strapped the shield on easily. Somehow, it felt familiar there, like an old friend who had returned to the place of his origins.

"You aren't sure?" The thief deadpanned for a moment, then backed away slowly to give Duran some room to get up. The bulky Knight got up, and said,

"I think I need to go out for a while."

This left the other three to stare as he left, until the faerie said into their minds,

:Why don't you see for yourself?: Laying aside her spear for the moment, Riesz touched the stone that somehow glowed from within. Then, it sang. There was no other possible explanation for the hum that spread through her hand and all about her body. In it, she heard the cries of birds, the howls of a wolf pack, and the soft lapping of waves rolling lazily over the shore. And yet, all these sounds were one, all of Mana, of the Goddess "Wilt thou walk the path of Light, or that of Darkness? Neither path is wrong, neither path is right, for the Goddess is both Dark and Light. But beware, for once thou has set foot upon the one path, the other is barred to thee forevermore. Choose wisely, for thou shalt not be able to change back." Riesz made her choice easily, and embraced the light with utter rapture. 

Hawkeye caught the amazon before she fell. For a moment he was worried, she was no lighter than a feather in his arms. Then she took a deep breath, and coughed loudly. The thief let out a sigh of relief. Then he noticed the changes that the stone had wrought in the girl. Her armor, once the normal brown of boiled leather, was now a vivid shade of green, and her hair seemed to have acquired touches of the same unearthly viridian. She opened her eyes, and even they had subtly changed. Once the color of green grass, they were now more the green-blue tint of the raging sea.

"Go ahead, Hawk. It's wonderful!"

Neither he nor Angela were able to get anymore out of the other two, so Hawkeye shrugged an put a hand up to the stone's surface.

The earth dropped away from him in an instant, enveloping him in darkness. Sounds and smells assaulted his senses, but he remained curiously blind. Out of the insane cacophony, a low, lilting voice somehow reached his ears. It felt like blossoming roses, but he still could not see. __

"Now, you know what it is to be in the total darkness you seek. Weep boy, for you have achieved your deepest desire, and it is not what you thought it to be."

He did cry, two endless streams of brine that poured forth from his sightless eyes. Someone held him as he wept, curling her fingers in his long hair, and smelling of fresh roses. When he was finally done, with no more tears to shed, she held him a while longer, whispering in his ear.

"Now that you know the darkness, you can bear it. Live in the shadows you adore so much, but remember also that there is light. Without light, there can be no shadows."

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, she let him go, and he was back in the cave, with the luminous eyes of a Valkyrie shining down on him.

"I guess I'm the last, then." Angela said.

__

:Just concentrate.: the faerie told her.

The magician's brow furrowed with concentration, and she felt herself pulled into the stone.

"You believe that magic may solve all of your problems, for you have never been touched by it before." A man with shining silver hair appeared, dressed in silver armor touched with a hint of gold. __

"You are so certain that she did not and does not love you." Another, much shorter man with a green cap and brown forest appeared next to the man with the silver hair.

"You allow that it is duty that keeps her from you.: This time, the man who appeared stood across from the dwarf, and he was wearing flowing yellow robes that undulated with a nonexistent wind. __

"You fail to see the true reason that she does not hold you."

"Why are you doing this to me?" she shouted, and the three men winced.

"Because you must know." She turned, and saw a man with black skin, dressed all in black, but with golden cat's eyes. "Let us take you where you need to go." 

"Do you think we should try to get her up?" Hawkeye looked over at the princess, still transfixed at the glowing stone. "It's almost dusk, and she's been there a lot longer than you were."

Riesz shook her head, and the faerie concurred.

:We can't interrupt the transformation, or she will be caught between the two aspects of herself, between light and darkness.: 

Hawkeye would have continued, but Angela's hair abruptly flared with color, switching from a fiery orange to a luminous white, and back again.

"What the hell?"

__

:Hush.: The faerie floated over to Angela and hovered worriedly. Gradually, the girl's hair began to flicker less and less, until it finally settled on the white. Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around warily. When she saw Duran's face, she burst into tears and ran to him. She raised a fist and brought it down on his armored chest, pounding and sobbing relentlessly. He, being about two feet taller than her, blinked as her ineffectual blows rained on his breastplate. The exchange continued in that vein for some time, until she finally ran out of energy. When she stopped, exhausted, he gathered her into his arms, dropping his shield, and held her like a sister.

They followed the footprints out of the cave, and the faerie cried out in their minds at what they saw.

:Jinn!: 

Angela and the others darted out through the cave and onto a wide platform with a breathtaking view. However, there was no time to enjoy it, because the wind Elemental lay on the ground, obviously in some sort of pain. An absolutely huge man carrying an equally large sword stood over the prone spirit. His armor was of some strange metal that none of the travelers had ever seen before; so black that it seemed to take in and swallow the light around it. The fittings were an eerie lavender that seemed out of place on the abyssal black. A dark helm hid all of his face but his eyes, soul-less silver eyes that glowed from inside the visor. Purple feathers formed a garish plume that also seemed strange against the man's armor.

"Who are you?" asked Duran, stepping in front of the Sorceress and raising his shield protectively.

"Get away from Jinn!"

Riesz staked up and brandished her spear menacingly. A tuft of wind stirred angrily around her, reacting to her rage and the pain of its creator. But the man ignored them. Hawkeye's sharp hearing picked up the sound of soft chanting. The Ninja hurled a shuriken at the man, hoping to disrupt his concentration.

"No!"

Dark energy flared as the tiny, lethal throwing star connected with an evil barrier. Hawkeye cursed, and as the man finished chanting, a carefully controlled cylinder of evil magic manifested around Jinn. Crackling red lightning squirmed inside of the magical cage, and the wind spirit cried out in pain.

"Stop it!"

Angela tossed a ball of white energy at the man, but before it could explode, both he and his strange magic disappeared. She hastily drew the errant Mana back to herself, where it dissipated back into her personal stores. The man reappeared a bit away from where he had been, and caught Duran's eye for a moment. In that moment, the Knight thought that he saw the man's eyes change to a familiar warm brown. Then the dark knight vanished again.

Riesz tried to go to the injured spirit, but Hawkeye caught her arm. When she glared at him and struggled, he motioned for Angela to explain.

"We have to let the spell take its course, Riesz."

"Why? You're a Sorceress now, can't you help him?

Jinn groaned, his pain filling their minds and ears. Angela spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness.

"If it were a normal spell, I could. But it isn't. That man was good, he set a trap in the spell's fibers."

"A trap? You can put a trap on a spell?"

Hawkeye nodded, and Angela continued.

"Yes. I almost got caught in it just from probing the spell. Whoever he was, that guy was good. I only found out what kind of spell it is."

She paused, gazing mournfully at the spirit, who was still contorted with pain.

"Well, what kind of spell is it?" Riesz demanded.

"Some sort of possession mixed with a polymorph."

"Polymorph?" Now even Hawkeye was confused.

"Transformation, metamorphosis, transmutation…"

"All right!" Hawkeye put up his hands to stay the flow of words. Riesz looked over at the spirit.

"Then what will happen to Jinn?"

"He'll be taken over, slowly, by an evil presence, until he ultimately transforms into that presence's image, and it paralyzes his mind."

"Look! He vanished!" Riesz pointed at the spot where Jinn had been. It was empty, and as they stared, an inhuman screech echoed through the hills…

A huge shadow passed directly over them.

"Get out of the way!" Hawkeye shouted, diving away from his position on a high rock. The other three followed suit, just before the shrieking creature dove into their midst.

"What _is_ that thing?" asked Duran, raising sword and shield against attack.

Long, pink ringlets whipped violently in the backdraft of the creature's gigantic wings. Angela ventured a guess as to the thing's race.

"A harpy?"

__

:The_ harpy, you mean. That's Tzenker, and she's taken possession of Jinn!:_ The faerie's voice sounded frantic in Angela's mind, and it instilled the girl with a sense of urgency.

Tzenker's upper body was that of a human woman; a very healthy, very _naked_ woman. But her lower half was that of a foul bird, covered in her own excrement. She was coated with grime that seemed as though it had been there for years.

"Whoa! That reeks!" exclaimed Duran, when the harpy's stench began to spread through the air. He gagged, and Tzenker used his occupation to engage him, raking at him with soiled claws, and shrieking with unholy fervor.

"Any ideas?" Riesz jumped down to aid the knight, leaving Hawkeye and Angela to think of a plan.

__

:Angela, Tzenker is a wind creature,: said the faerie, _:Gnome might weaken her if you use his magic!:_

"But then she'll just fight the two of us, won't she?"

She eyed her staff dubiously. It was great for knocking sense into unwanted suitors and smashing small demons, but she did not think it would help much here.

"I'll distract it." Said Hawkeye, apparently unaffected by the harpy's invasive scent. "If you cast your magic from this side, and I hit her with stars from the other side, maybe we can confuse her."

Without waiting for an answer, or debating with her as he usually did, he simply did it, leaving her behind.

"Wait!" she called out, feeling like things were going far too quickly for her liking.

:Just do it, Angela, he's right. I'll tell Riesz and Duran.: 

"If you say."

Trusting the faerie to relay the plan, she got to work. Hawkeye circled around to the other side, and immediately started his assault. Tzenker howled whenever one of them sank into her flesh, but no blood spurted from the wounds. It seemed she was simply an image, a nightmare conjured out of some crazed dreamer's mind to harry them. She hesitated when the metal grazed her skin, so Duran and Riesz took the offensive. Riesz stabbed quickly up at the harpy with her, only to leap back so that Duran could use his shield to block the furious claw strikes. Meanwhile, Angela was communing with the earth, calling out to the stones that had grown there. With Gnome aiding her, she reached out and touched several violet gems, each the size of a small cat, and summoned them to the surface. They gleamed menacingly, circling around the airborne target. It was a version of the spell she had used earlier, but more deadly, and more potent. In tandem, they rose over the harpy's head, and dove down to slice at her viciously. Tzenker squealed, and turned to the source of the attack. She landed on the ground, and raised a clawed hand into the air, seemingly casting a spell.

All around them, the air seemed to shiver and grow cold. Then, the harpy shrieked again, and the air suddenly whipped up into a myriad of whirling columns that whipped the fighters' clothing about violently. Angela was picked up bodily by a finger of wind, and tossed into the air, screaming for help.

The other three managed to keep their feet planted on the ground, but found themselves unable to move. This gave Tzenker plenty of time to rise into the air and taunt the terrified Angela with foul shrieks and bad language. Then, the winds gave out, their magical fuel exhausted, and Angela plummeted to the ground.

"_NO!"_

Duran shouted his rage when he saw the girl fall from the sky, but he knew that he would not be able to make it there in time. He tried, anyway, and swore as he ran. Time slowed itself, his gaze narrowed to the plummeting figure streaking down at him…

She crashed into the hard ground with a sickening crunch, and Duran gasped with sympathetic pain. All three of them heard the faerie moan as she felt Angela's life slipping away. Tzenker cackled horridly, and the knight raised his figure ramrod straight.

"You evil…you disgusting…" His voice worked, but his mind was just incoherent babbling. This girl had been his companion for only a few weeks, but already they had gotten through some pretty tough scrapes together. He remembered the fight with the Jewel Eater, where she had used her power with Wisp to create light for the others to fight by. He remembered all the times she had clocked him on the head for being stupid. He remembered the time that she had saved his life by invading his mind. Everything was touched with the terrible image of her broken body lying still on the ground.

Minds reeling with dismay, the other two were still as Duran leapt into the air, executing an impressive three-step cut on the flying creature. The first sliced off a wing, and she fell out of the sky. The next slashed across her midsection as they fell to the ground. The last…the last lopped off her head.

Duran cradled his friend's ailing body in his arms, praying silently to the Goddess for her to live. Riesz was off to the side, doing the same, and Hawkeye was seated against the wall, humming a mournful tune. The faerie hovered around behind Duran, just as worried about her host as the three humans.

:Whoa! Why the long faces?: asked an energetic voice. A familiar white flame manifested over Angela's body, and Duran raised his tear-stained face to look. 

"Wha…?"

:I see…Well, this is a problem.: 

Wisp sighed mentally, and tiny lights shimmered in a small storm around him. _:Her neck is broken, she is dying.:_

Duran moaned, and Riesz turned her face away. Hawkeye simply went on humming, an eerie backdrop to the exchange.

:But! It's not unsolvable, I believe. Duran, listen to me.: 

The mountainside went silent.

__

:Thank you. Now, I will teach you how to heal her. No half-enchanted morsel is going to heal this_ wound, I'm afraid. We'll just have to do it the hard way.:_

"Me? Heal her? But that's a priest's job! I don't know how…"

:That's why I'm going to teach you. It's one of a protector's most important skills. When you took on the title of Knight, you took on the responsibility of healing. Now, look inside yourself, I will show you the way…: 

It seemed to take hours to Duran, but it couldn't have, for Angela was still warm in his arms when he came back. If the situation were less desperate, he might have realized that Wisp had just shown him the light within himself, his own personal store of perfectly clean light, but his mind was focused on Angela.

He touched Angela at the neck, and felt a fluttering pulse beneath his fingers. His hand seemed horribly large next to her slender figure, as though he was some grotesque giant trying to perform difficult surgery on a sprite. Tiny sparks of light spread out from his fingers, soaring along the sorceress' body and repairing damage wherever they went. Duran leaned down, and pressed his lips against hers. He felt his magic pouring out through his mouth, and his lips grew warm against hers. He felt the warmth seeping from her body, and fought to replace it with his own. Death was the toughest opponent he had ever encountered, for death crept up and invaded so quickly that it was impossible for him to fight it at every possible angle.

Then, he felt a hand on his shoulder, a warm one. Without looking, he could tell it was Riesz. The hard spear calluses on her hands made her presence a solid one, and he felt her energy flow through him, and into the mangled body of their friend. Riesz could not heal, the paths of her magic flowed a different way, but through Duran, she could work to aid the faerie's chosen bearer. She gave him the energy he needed to maintain Angela's life, but he still could not be everywhere at once.

Hawkeye began to whistle, and Duran felt the ninja's touch on his mind.

Hawk? :Yes, it's me. I'll help you, but you've got to keep hold of me. I can't actually heal her, but I can help with the internal bleeding.: Thank you… __

:Don't. We have to hurry.: 

Duran did not reply, for Hawkeye's mind was already concentrated on fighting their dark opponent. He continued to fight; it was a battle like none he had ever fought before, involving countless fronts and mixed emotions. Unconscious, Angela fought them, not knowing the difference between ally and enemy. When the knight felt her slipping away, he began to lose heart. But every time he faltered, Riesz was there, a bastion of pure strength and confidence. For the valkyrie, there was no question, he would do this, somehow. There was no room for failure in her mind.

__

:Come now, Duran. You have chosen the light. Have some faith in yourself! My magic will not fail you. I care a great deal for this princess of yours.: Somehow, Wisp was there with them, and the spirit's presence bolstered Duran's depleted reserves of Mana and nerves. _:Never will I let it be known that Wisp failed to heal such an important person as the faerie's bearer, one of the Seeds of Mana!:_

With those words, Duran felt new strength flow into him. He held Angela's limp head up in the unending kiss until, at last, he elicited a strangled breath from her.

__ She floated, couched in a never-ending darkness that seemed to swallow her up in its vastness. For the first time since she had met the Elementals, she was cut off from the ebb and flow of Mana, the very essence of life. She had grown accustomed to feeling its gentle warmth, so much like the warmth she had felt when her mother held her, so long ago… She fell, fell into the very pits of darkness, unaware of her plummet's significance. She gazed at the broken faces of the dead, felt the cold fingers of the river of Death… She walked where so many walked, amidst the freezing cold of un-life, of a horrible, yet somehow peaceful, but definitely final place. She felt the cold wrap itself around her heart, then spread through her body. And yet, she had no body. Did she exist? Was she really Angela? Who was Angela, anyway? Did she love Duran, did she hate him? Was she a servant of the faerie, or a comrade? Could she use magic, or was she still without it? __

She landed somewhere in the river. She felt the cold current flow all around her, pulling at her ankles like it had life of its own, or like it was seeking hers. There was still no light, and it was so cold… She longed to see the faces of her friends again, but she could not penetrate the darkness.

Then, she looked up, and saw light pour down from above. With it, came warmth, and release from the river's grip. The dark waters recoiled from her form, ending their deadly caress. She heard a voice calling her, but it was the mingled voices of all whom she had known. She reached for the light…

Then, she woke up. She coughed, then felt the pressure of lips against hers. The lips pulled away, and she heard the sounds of a man gasping and coughing. She sat up, and her limbs rebelled.

:Don't push yourself too hard, Angela, you've just come back from Death.: 

She recognized the sound of the faerie's voice in her mind, and everything came rushing back.

Did Duran…? :Heal you? Yes. Wisp has taught him how. And you shouldn't be wasting all of his effort trying to move around like that!: 

Angela ignored the faerie, she felt fine. If she had been healed, brought back from "the brink of death", she certainly did not feel like it. She felt very much energized and alive. Though she would never forget the dark river…and the intense cold. She turned her attention to Duran, and her eyes widened.

"You! You kissed me, didn't you?" She groped for her staff, and, not finding it at hand, chose to spit acid instead. "You slime! How dare you try to kiss a girl in her sleep? Pervert!"

He chuckled weakly, and Riesz, who stood behind him, smiled.

"I think she's back." Said the valkyrie.

"You think?" asked Duran, his tone ironic.

Minutes later, Angela was again in possession of her staff, and the other three felt relieved, if a little abashed. They turned their attention to the wind spirit, who had collapsed on the ground when Tzenker's form faded from him.

"What do we do? I think he's hurt, but…"

Angela looked to Duran, and he shook his head.

"I'm burnt out. Nothing left."

__

:Maybe I can help.: said the faerie. She manifested outside of Angela's head, and floated over to the fallen Elemental. She raised a tiny fist into the air, and gave a half turn of her body to the left, then to the right. Sparks of light fell like rain around her, and drifted down to touch the wind spirit. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, Jinn abruptly sprang into the air, and stayed there, hovering.

:What? Oh, a faerie. It's that time, is it?: He looked at the faerie, who appeared exhausted but happy that he was all right. :Yes, I'm afraid it is.: :Are these children the seeds?: __

:Yes. They have already proven themselves.:

Within the space of a few seconds, the faerie explained to Jinn what had occurred in the past weeks. When the mental conversation was over, he turned to the four fighters with admiring eyes.

:You saved my life! Thank you!: 

He bobbed over to Riesz and gave her a peck on the cheek. She blushed furiously, as amazed by his frankness as the close contact with an Elemental. When he had calmed down a bit, Angela motioned for his attention.

"Jinn, we have a plan to take back Laurant's castle from the ninja who invaded it. We need your help to spread the sleeping flower through the castle. Our numbers are limited, so the only way we could do it is if you used wind magic to propel the pollen into the castle. The defenders have never smelled it before, so they should be susceptible."

:Hmm…a good plan. Of course I'll do it! You guys saved my life! I'll do anything for you!: 

With that, he disappeared, he would wait for them to call him in the garden of the sleeping flowers.

"Well. That was easy." Said Duran. Riesz blushed again, and they headed back to the flower garden.

"Careless." Hawkeye said. He bent down to check the pulse of a Navarran soldier, and found it strong. He straightened himself and peered up at the castle. It was an imposing sight to be sure, but less so because he knew that all of the ninja would be in this condition.

"What do you mean, Hawk?"

Riesz came up behind him and looked up at the castle as well.

"Isabelle forgot to expose them to the flower, so her plans are foiled." The ninja began walking up the stairs. Duran and Angela were already inside the building, Riesz and Hawkeye had stayed behind to clean up after them, just in case there were some ninja left awake. There were none.

They walked together, listening to the triumphant cries of the warrior women, until they met up with Angela and Duran the throne room. Angela was inspecting the throne, and Duran was talking to Alma. They both seemed very pleased with the outcome of the flower strategy. Angela grinned when she saw them come in.

"Well, it looks like our plan was a success!" 

Riesz laughed, and Hawkeye nodded. The general atmosphere of contentment was infectious, and they soon found themselves laughing with the amazons. They celebrated a moment more, until one of the female warriors came dashing into the room.

"There's monsters in the castle!"

Angela dropped the conversation she had engaged in immediately, and turned quickly to face the worried woman in the doorway.

"Where?"

"In the upper levels! It's horrible, they've got Mila and Sandra!"

"Take us there." Replied Angela.

"Navarre uses monsters to defend itself?"

Riesz spat her disgust as she speared one of the strange dwarf swordsmen. They were fairly easy to defeat, as long as they did not execute their strange whirling cut.

"No, not Navarre." Said Hawkeye. He was blade dancing with the shadow image of a ninja. It was not the real thing, but it felt real enough whenever the shadow's daggers bit into his flesh. It had just enough substance to carry the metal. "Isabella. Navarre has never needed to defend itself because of its location in the desert."

"Holy Ball!"

Hawkeye sighed as the ninja disappeared in holy fire. Angela grinned at him and turned her attention to the last opponent in the room, a large, floating sword that appeared to fight of its own volition. At first, they had thought its wielder was invisible, but Duran had already swiped at the area where such a person might be, and met with no success.

"Duran, keep it busy!" shouted Angela, already gathering magical energy between her hands.

"I've _been_ keeping the stupid thing busy! Do something!"

He danced back a few steps, just barely parrying the phantom sword's blows.

"Angela!"

"Done!"

She clapped her hands and spread them. A long column of wind, whirling with the golden sparks of Jinn's magic inside, erupted from her hands in a deadly tunnel. She caught it with her mind and shaped it into a blade. Then she used it to smash the sword into bits with pure magical force. When she was done, she banished the air blade and dusted her hands off, her expression victorious. Evidently, she had no fear of using wind magic, though it had nearly been the instrument of her death.

"Finally." Muttered Duran.

"I heard that!"

Hawkeye danced aside when he entered the room. A pool of evil-looking black goo lay on the floor, and he wanted nothing of it. Angela, however, was unperturbed by it, and bent down to look.

"I've seen this before, I know it."

Riesz inspected the walls while Duran stayed at the door to make sure that no monsters were following them. Angela continued to poke and prod the goo. 

"There's nothing in here." Was Riesz's assessment of the room. "It's completely empty. No hidden doors, and no secret passages. There should be a door _there_," she pointed at the wall opposite Duran, "but there isn't. Something's wrong."

"What is this stuff?"

Angela looked away from the dark gelatin for a moment to think, and it abruptly sprang to life. With a sickening, gurgling noise, it latched onto her hand, enveloping it quickly and silently. She did not notice until it began to eat away at her flesh. Then, she shrieked and waved her hand around to dislodge it.

"Shape-shifters! There's a demon portal in here!"

She pointed a finger at the cringing pile of sludge and a ray of light leapt from the end of it. The thing was vaporized in seconds.

"Uh…Riesz? There's a door there now."

Hawkeye was eyeing the wall strangely.

"What? That's not possible, I just looked….what the?"

Indeed a door had formed, and it was a hideous monster with eyes and a gaping maw. Two lamps on either side of it lit with richly red flames, and the room was filled with the sound of evil chanting.

Angela was reminded of the dark knight they had met on the precipice of the mountain. She rolled her eyes. She grabbed Duran's arm.

"I'm so tired of that stupid chanting. It grates on my ears. I'm guessing that the door brings in the shape-shifters."

"So all we have to do is destroy the door, and these things will stop popping out at us?" asked Riesz.

"That's right." Replied the sorceress.

Hawkeye was struggling with another of the goo piles, and not having much success. It grabbed his leg, and he gave a shout of disgust, which turned into a howl of disbelief. Since Hawkeye was not normally prone to voicing his emotions verbally, the other three assumed something was terribly wrong.

"Hawk!"

Riesz dashed over to him, spearing one of the things on her way. Angela kept her head, and stopped Duran.

"What are you doing?" he demanded. "He needs help!"

"You fight the door. I'll take care of the little transformers."

Angela was not amused. It turned out that the little buggers got their ideas for shapes from the minds of those they attacked. Hawkeye had cried out because the shape-shifter had latched onto his mind with its unique magic. From him, it had plucked his memories of shadow ninja, and then it had taken that form.

Duran was busily healing Hawkeye, and Riesz was just breathing in and out meditatively. Threads of wind coiled about her form, twisting her hair into odd positions. That was one of the things that Angela had seen change in Riesz. Before that time in the chamber of the Mana Stone, Riesz had never let her hair free its bindings. But now, she let it fly as it would, tossed in the breeze. Angela was happy to observe the change in her friend.

__

Friend? She thought, startled. _I haven't had a friend since…since Iris…_

She thought about that girl now; with her large glasses and mouse-brown hair. Iris had been her friend. But Angela had pushed her away when she found out about boys. The princess sighed, regretting that childish decision.

Now, though, was not the time to dwell on the past. Duran finished healing Hawkeye quickly, and they gathered together to plan the next move.

"We don't know what will be in the throne room, do we?" asked Duran.

"No." said Angela.

Riesz spat her disgust. "That _woman_ who took my home from me, most likely. It seems just like her to live it up in my father's rooms like she's some kind of conqueror."

Hawkeye nodded silently.

"Well, whoever she is, I doubt she's a match for the four of us, not when we've got the Elementals behind us." Angela grinned and rubbed her staff menacingly.

"So what do we do? Just run in there and start having at her? That seems a little rash to me." Said the knight.

Angela snorted derisively. "And since when has that ever stopped _you_?"

__

:I don't think you should take this woman lightly, Angela.: said the faerie. She spoke only to the Princess, she was still weary from healing Jinn.

What? :I said…: __

I heard what you said! What do you mean? Do you know something?

:No, I just feel like you're not giving this enough thought. Didn't Nieva teach you better than that?:

Nieva…

:Yes. You must think properly now, Angela, of all times. The Seeds of the Goddess have much to do, and you are their leader.:

The Seeds…What is this stuff about Seeds, anyway? Jinn was talking about them before, and now you're babbling on about them. What exactly are we doing here?

:I cannot tell you of it now, not all of the Seeds have blossomed. But I will tell you soon. For now, you must not underestimate this Isabella woman.: 

Angela nodded slowly, perplexed. But she knew that it was impossible to get the faerie to talk when she had her crop around a secret, so she did not pursue the matter further. Instead, she motioned to the others to move on. At length, they came to a large, elaborate door that Riesz recognized as entrance to her father's personal quarters. Riesz began to open the door, but Hawkeye placed a hand over hers before it touched the knob. With a quick movement, he tossed a shuriken upward, where it lodged itself into a wooden object with a soft _thunk_. Without warning, an arrow slammed through the air to where Riesz had been standing, landing in the ground and quivering there, stuck in the stone. Riesz jumped, and held in a shriek. Hawkeye nodded grimly.

"Isabella can't be alone in there."

He pushed the doors open, and ducked, pulling Riesz down with him. A small, metal object whistled over their heads, a high-pitched whine echoing from it. It was a shuriken. They entered cautiously.

"Bill! Ben!"

A smile played across Hawkeye's lips, and Riesz thought she saw light dance in his shadowed eyes. Apparently, he was throwing all caution to the wind for no reason at all. Riesz frowned, this definitely wasn't like Hawk.

"You guys! I thought I'd never see you again! I mean, with that Isabella casting her spells and all…"

The ninja started to move forward to embrace his friends, but stopped when he found four feet of wood in his path. Surprised, he spared Angela a startle glance, and the beautiful girl shook her head.

"Those aren't your friends, Hawk. Remember?"

He growled and slapped away her staff. His face showed a savage expression in that moment, annoyed that Angela had gotten in his way.

"What do you know?" He tried to continue, but fell as he was pushed roughly aside. Duran stood over the ninja's prone form, bouncing in a defensive stance.

"What are you…"

"Would a _friend_ throw _this_ at you?"

Riesz brandished a tiny piece of metal fiercely. It was another Navarran throwing star. The ninja looked back to his former comrades in crime, who stood on the steps impassively. Another star was already in Bill's hand.

"Dammit. I was reckless." He rose liquidly to his feet. "Just like Nik, right?"

Angela nodded sagely. "I'm sorry."

He didn't reply. Instead, a new voice echoed into the large room.

"My dear Hawky-boy, I never would have pegged you one for resisting me."

A woman appeared abruptly, sitting placidly on the chair Joster had once used to entertain petty legal pleas. Her hair and face were obscured by veil and turban, though Hawkeye knew her to be surpassingly beautiful; beautiful as an unsheathed blade. Her voice was soft, sibilant, deadly pleasant to the ear. Like oil it slid over his ears and tainted his mind.

__

Eagle…

"It was always that damn Eagle character and his tree-hugging friends that got in my way. Well, they're all gone now. Every fool who resisted is dead. Even your precious Wanderer couldn't stand against Isabella. Though I dare say he gave it a good fight."

"Damn you, Isabella."

She laughed, a horribly pleasing sound. Duran gulped audibly, but held his ground. The two ninja made no more offensive movements, though the shuriken was still grasped in Bill's gloved hand.

"Isabella? Yes, that name is rather quaint. Excellent for the persona I chose."

The evil woman stood easily and slowly, and gracefully descended the steps. When she came to the tow ninja, she stopped, and flashed a white smile at Hawkeye. She let one perfect hand trail up Ben's shirt and stroked his chest sensuously. He did not react.

"Isabella the beautiful, the radiant, the luminous. Yes, a very suitable name for a queen. Flamekhan was an amusing toy. An excellent puppet, so eager to be a king."

"Liar! You poisoned his mind! Boss never thought about that until you came along!"

"Didn't he?" Her veil shifted as she cocked a pretty brow at the ninja. "Did you really think he intended to live in that disgusting hole you call a Thieves' Guild until he dried up? How well you knew you king, dear Hawky-boy!" She tossed her hair languidly.

"Shut your damn mouth." He replied between clenched teeth. Angela toyed with her hair worriedly. Isabella laughed again, and the noise made Hawkeye want to vomit.

"Oh, but I have such a comely mouth, no?"

She turned Ben to herself, still keeping her hand beneath his shirt, and kissed him on the lips with seeming passion. When she released the unfeeling man, she turned back to Hawkeye.

"Tell him you liked it, Benny darling."

The ninja grunted mindlessly, and the woman laughed a third time.

"You see? Your friend likes Isabella's kisses! As did your "Boss". But I am not Isabella."

She withdrew her hand from Ben and paced back up the stairs.

"I am Bigieu, your cunning and breathtaking executioner."

She sat down again on Joster's chair lazily.

"Enough, I tire of this game. Slaves, dispatch this scum at once."

"Yes, Mistress Isabella."

The two men began chanting in the desert tongue, their fingers moving in unison, voices weaving dark words together in perfect tandem. Two voices began to flow over each other, to flow into each other until, in one final moment, they became one.

"Fusion." whispered an impossibly deep, basso-profundo voice. The voice was faint, but not for lack of volume, but because it was so deep as to be hardly audible. A black light surrounded them, shrouding them in a globe of darkness ten feet high. For a few long moments, it seemed that they had been swallowed up. Then, the dark bubble burst, and one man stood where there had been two.

"Fusion?!!" Angela shrieked, "That technique hasn't been use for centuries!"

"Damn!" That was from Duran. The melded twins made an imposing figure, standing taller than even the huge Knight. The giant remained still for a few moments, then sprang into action.

"Look out!"

They all dove out of the way as a storm of throwing stars flew their way. For his size, the giant was astonishingly swift, and they were pressed simply to dodge. As Angela had a particularly close call, she hissed and turned to confront the giant, then raised her staff into a spell-casting position.

"No, don't! You're crazy!" Duran tried to intervene, but a star sank into the Sorceress' shoulder before he could get to her. To his surprise, she merely winced and completed her spell. Visible tunnels of air appeared all about the room, fouling the giant's aim, and the four travelers were able to take the offensive. Riesz leaped at the huge aberration with a loud cry and slashed across its chest with her spear's blade. The giant ignored the gaping wound and kicked her away powerfully. She cried out, but struggled back to her feet for another sally.

:Don't overdo it, amazon girl.: 

She recognized Wisp's touch as healing magic took away the pain and gave her back her wind. She silently blessed Duran and his healing magic as she dove into the fray again.

Meanwhile, Hawkeye gazed sorrowfully at his former companions, knowing that they would prefer death to this mindless existence. His heart was caught in the throes of indecision when they kicked Riesz. Anger crackled inside him when he saw her fly across the room. Anger crackled inside him, and he drew his knives to save her. Before the combined ninja could turn their attention back to the Valkyrie, he ran up behind their combined form and stabbed viciously into their broad back, meeting little resistance.

"Holy Ball!"

A shaft of divine light enveloped the giant, and it let out a grunt of pain., but held its ground. It turned and backhanded Hawkeye….or would have, had he still been there. But he was not, instead at the charging Valkyrie's side. Fast as the giant was, Hawkeye was faster. It dodged Riesz's attack easily, but met the steel of the ninja's blades. The exchange continued for some time, Riesz and Hawkeye avoiding injury for the most part. After weeks of fighting monsters in tandem, they worked seamlessly, each covering the other's weakness. Hawkeye's blade dancing complemented Riesz's mid-ranged spear thrusts perfectly, and the result was a combination no one fighter, however fast, could overcome.

Hawkeye rolled off to the side and tossed a dagger straight at the monster's side. It curled it's body lithely to avoid it, but met Riesz's spear in the gut. With another groan, the giant collapsed into a heap, and split back into two unceremoniously.

"That was too easy…" Riesz said warily.

"You're right." Said Angela. "Don't go near them! Part of the Fusion technique is…"

Both prone ninja abruptly leaped to their feet and started hurling shuriken at all four travelers.

"…regeneration."

With two attackers instead of one, Hawkeye and Riesz were forced to adjust their strategy. Angela's spell had expended its energy during the previous exchange, and the shuriken flew with deadly accuracy again.

"Can you do anything about those?" Duran asked Angela as he defended both of them from the sharp metal stars.

"Too many of them. I'll just make it worse."

"We've got to help them." He told her, pointing emphatically at the other two members of their group, whirling around in an eerie mockery of a dance in their haste to avoid the missiles of the enemy.

"I _know_ that, Duran! Shut up and let me work!"

The sorceress bit her lip as she watched her friends, trying desperately to think of something to do.

__

:Why don't you try those diamonds you used earlier?: asked the faerie.

I can't, I might hit Riesz or Hawkeye, they're in my line of fire. :All right. I have an idea. You should use Holy Ball.: __

What? I tried _that, Faerie!_

:Not in the way I'm suggesting. You have to focus more energy into the blast, so that you get a long string of the missiles. That way, you can catch both of those men in the explosion.:

I'll try it then. :The Goddess is with you.: 

Angela nodded and again took up her spellcasting stance once again. Her thoughts swept back to the encounter she'd had with Altenan soldiers on the bridge to Forcena, and she remembered the golden power that had filtered through her. She reached out to that power now, and found bliss.

Duran could feel the power building behind himself, and he called out to Riesz and Hawkeye in a strained voice, telling them to get out of the way. The mind-controlled ninja were unable to comprehend, and so they were caught in what came next.

"HOLY BALL!" screamed the Sorceress. Waves of energy whirled around her form, radiating out in an angry field that did not waver and did not break. Her hair broke free of its bindings, falling free around her and flaring out in the backlash of the power she was releasing.

A light like a miniature sun exploded in the center of the room. Riesz and Hawkeye dove out of the way just in time. Pulse after pulse of light magic flared in the room, and a long string of white spheres danced among the explosions. When it was all over, nothing was to be seen but the smoke of defeat, and a small woman with unbound hair and eyes that burned the gold of Mana…

Whew! That took forever, believe me. I hope it was worth the wait. A Carlie/Kevin interlude coming up. Hopefully after a shorter interval than this took.

~Truewind


	12. Ghostship

Ghostship

For a brief moment, the woman's eyes flickered to the gold of a cat's, but when Angela blinked, the image was gone.

"Bigieu…" snarled the sorceress. She raised her staff again to spellcast, only half-conscious of the nimble Hawkeye flying up the stairs before her. Just when she was about to release the spell on her lips, and Hawkeye poised with a wicked-looking throwing knife, Bigieu spoke again.

"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

She lifted an amulet from between her ample breasts and brandished it before them. Hawkeye's knife clattered to the floor, dropped from deadened fingers.

"Jessica…" he spoke softly. Bigieu nodded and replaced the pendant in her bosom.

"I have no use for this castle now. You may have it."

With no further pomp, she disappeared.

"Dammit!"

Duran slammed the hard wooden table with a large fist, shaking the floor around it slightly. Riesz reached out to put a calming hand on his shoulder, but he brushed it away irritably. "I don't like it, I don't like it at all. We shouldn't have let her leave. She'll come back to haunt us, mark it. And the Goddess only knows what she'll do when she does."

"And what were we supposed to do, you big clod?" Angela hefted her staff and brought it down on his thick skull with a loud clang. His helmet protected him, but the motion left him with a unique ringing sound in his ears. "Hawk's girlfriend was tied to that…seductress somehow."

__

:Seductress, eh, Angela? As though you can talk.:

The faerie's humor was lost on the depressed quad of warriors. Angela did not even raise her voice, and that worried the little winged woman. The faerie floated over to Angela, trailing blue sparks in her wake, and stared the girl hard in the face.

__

:It is not the end, much as you believe it to be so. In fact, this is a beginning. You have the Wind Kingdom back from that woman's grasp! We are one step closer to the Holyland, whether you believe it or not. The Goddess smiles upon you all, can you not feel it?:

Riesz was the first to respond.

"How can we possibly save Mana if we can't even save one girl?"

Duran nodded, and Angela made a soft sound of agreement. Hawkeye just sat at the table, gazing off into space. Presumably, he was back with his Jessica.

__

:You, the chosen of Mana, are complaining_?:_ The faerie scowled. _:I'm disgusted. You have the all the blessings of the Goddess. She will certainly grant Jessica her freedom. It is Her will that drives Fa'Diel, and you, Her chosen warriors, would flout it? What is the world coming to? I remember when we had _real_ heroes.:_

Hawkeye roused himself from his funk long enough to say, "We didn't ask for this. None of us did."

Riesz scoffed. "Did the Goddess think it fit to slay my father? To kidnap my brother?"

The faerie nearly fell out of the air. _Riesz_ was questioning the Goddess?

"Did the Goddess keep my mother from loving me?" Angela asked in a small voice. The faerie shook her tiny head.

__

:She lays the path, it is up to humans to follow it. Your choices will lead you down the path, or off it. I had hoped that I might lead you back to it, since you have all strayed, but it seems that I was wasting my time. Perhaps I should seek out the child, Charlotte. Her heart is pure, her will to serve the Goddess unalloyed by doubt.:

This time, Duran snorted. "That little bit of sugar? What could she do, bounce on the enemy?"

__

:Better than what you are doing now. At least she would try_.:_

There was a long, uncomfortable silence. When it appeared that none of them would begin speaking any time soon, the faerie sighed.

:I do not understand. I truly do not. It seems to me that at every turn, you stop and gape, wondering and worrying. I did not come all the way from the spirit world to sit a lot of babies! I never said this would be easy. I told you, from the beginning, that the Goddess demands much of her heroes.: 

"We knew that, Faerie." Replied Angela. "You did tell us."

"But I don't think we understood…" started Riesz.

"…until we started to lose the people we love." Finished Hawkeye. The ninja's thoughts remained on Jessica, and the cat-thief he'd left in Palo. Riesz thought of her brother and her poor blind, dead father. Duran still mourned the deaths of the soldiers in Forcena, on the walls of the castle and in the night, by trickery and magic they did not understand. Angela thought of her mother, the ice queen of Reason. The sorceress still remembered warmth, a warmth she had not felt since childhood. When she was around Duran, that part of her tingled, but he could not evoke the same sense of security that Angela recalled. Once, once she had been warm. That had been when Altena was at the height of its peacetime power, with her mother's strength fueling the spells of warmth that protected the city.

The faerie fumed silently for a few moments then tossed a spark of blue fire into Angela's hair. The girl yelped and scrabbled to put it out, and the other three snapped out of their reveries to help her.

Several buckets of water and a very wet sorceress later, they were settled at the table, Angela glaring daggers at the faerie and looking slightly singed, the others with faint grins on their faces. A very satisfied sylph stared back at them, and took in breath for more words. Hawkeye interrupted her.

"We'll go, Faerie, all right? We'll go. I've got a girlfriend to save, and my amazonian friend here, " he indicated Riesz with an expansive gesture, "needs to find her dear brother. So we'll go."

The others nodded their agreement, and Angela shook some droplets free from her hair in the process. Riesz growled.

"Not on the rabite-fur rug, you idiot! Do you have any idea how many we had to track down to make that thing? It was in perfect condition!"

Angela stared at the little puddle that had collected on the floor worriedly.

"Uh-oh…"

Both girls leaped up from the table simultaneously. Angela dashed out through the door with an enraged Riesz on her tail. Duran looked to the more experienced Hawkeye for support, but the ninja just shook his head and laughed again.

"Women run the country, Duran. They've got to be used to it by now."

The knight sighed and hoped that they would make it out of the wind kingdom sooner rather than later.

"Riesz, are you sure it's okay to leave the place? You _are_ the Queen now, right?"

Angela had a few bruises from wrestling with the bigger girl, but she was otherwise intact, and even those were a pale yellow and already beginning to fade. A few days of rest, and the long ours of soul-searching that accompanied them, had done all four of them a lot of good, and they were glad to have it.

"They'll be fine." Replied the valkyrie. "Elder Matthew is wise, and the amazons are strong. They are wary now, so I don't think the castle will fall to Navarre's tricks again."

"Bigieu isn't after Laurant anymore. I'm not sure why she attacked in the first place."

Duran fingered his beardless chin thoughtfully. 

"That's been bothering me, too. She obviously wants to release the energy of the Mana Stones, but with her ninjas…"

"Ninja." Corrected Hawkeye. Duran glared at the ninja, but his target just grinned and winked.

"Right, ninja. Anyway, with her _ninja_, Bigieu could easily have taken the Stone without ever taking the castle. There's no tactical advantage in keeping Laurant's keep, since she can't attack any other countries from it. So why take it in the first place?"

__

:Er, Duran? I didn't think that I needed to point this out, but apparently I do. She did it because she's evil_, of course!: _The faerie gave him a little mental "slap", and he rubbed his head sheepishly. _:Does she really need another reason?:_

"I guess not…"

:Then I suggest that we stop arguing about it and get moving.: 

A tiny girl bounced along down the road, her golden curls bouncing as she did. She carried with her a vast store of energy, and it escaped in little bursts that made her giggle. For all the world, she appeared to be oblivious. But Carlie was thinking, uh-huh!

Nice dancing lady told Carlie, "Follow the yellow-brick road!", she did. So Carlie's followin' the yellow-brick road, she is. Too bad dancing lady went to play with fat man… 

The girl's thoughts continued in that pattern for much of the short trek. Once or twice, it was interrupted when the cute, yellow bunny-things tried to bite her, but she spanked 'em good with her hurly-wurly sprinkler and moved on. Before long, she made it to the gate of Maia, and she stood there for a few moments, still bouncing energetically.

"Uwaaa!"

The minute cleric whipped around when she heard the strange cry. Out came her morning star, and she stood stolidly to wait for whatever was coming her way. Down the path hammered many loud men and the boy that had let out the cry. Carlie blinked, the large group of men was fleeing the lone boy! She cocked her cute head to the side, confused.

Seeing easier prey ahead of them, the men shouted and waved their pointy, rusted swords around. Carlie danced back a few steps, a bit fearful. Then, the screaming boy crashed into the motley crew like a mallet. Curses rang out in several tongues, and Carlie reddened.

"Bad men! Carlie wash out those stinky potty-mouths!"

With the boy laying about with huge, meaty fists, and an angry midget waving a flail, the bandits were soon out cold on the yellow brick. Carlie hung her morning star on the loop inside her robes and confronted the boy.

"Why loud boy chase bad men?" she asked. Before answering, the boy knelt over the body of one of the bandits and fished something out of the man's clothing. It was a pouch, filled with jingling coins. Seemingly satisfied, he stood up and loomed over Carlie. He stood more than twice her height, so it was easy. He also had biceps like corded metal and a wolfish look about him. And he wore a funny hat.

"Why little girl run around on yellow road?" he retorted. He chortled, thinking himself witty to procure such a sophisticated rebuttal. Carlie fumed.

"Carlie asked you first!" she sputtered.

"So?" replied the wolf-boy. He grinned ferally, exposing overly large canines that were painfully white against his dark skin.

"Because…because…why you so mean to poor Carlie?!"

The little girl promptly burst into tears and ran off through the gates of Maia, leaving behind several bodies and one bewildered beast boy.

"Throw 'im outta town, the goddess-damned thief!"

Hawkeye's sensitive ears picked up the sound long before any of the others. The Path to the Heavens was at its end, and they had been contemplating a nice supper at Palo's inn, good fish and all, when the ninja heard the raucous voice emanating up the path.

"What's that? A thief?" he murmured. "Who are they talking about?"

Angela looked over to him with some concern.

"What's wrong, Hawk?"

"Quiet, something's wrong at the gate."

He cupped a hand around his ear to hear better, but Angela pulled it down. When he frowned at her, she grinned widely and tapped his head around the ear three times, a triangle.

"There's a better way to do that."

She searched through the golden pathways Mana left in the winds, and drew one out from the gate of Palo. Immediately, Hawkeye felt a soft sea breeze blow past his ear, and it brought voices with it.

"A cat? What the hell is he? Some kind of cat-person? I've heard of 'em, but I've never met one…" 

"A cat person…?"

Angela's features suddenly grew grave. Hawkeye leaped down the hillside and shouted,

"Nikita!"

"Damned thieves! Palo never did anythin' ta ya!"

The inebriated fisherman was knocked to the ground by a figure in green and purple. He tried to get back to his feet, but swooned when he found a knife in his face and a hand around his throat.

"I forbid you to touch him." Said the smooth tenor.

"A…awright…just don' kill me!"

The man in green and purple was strong, too strong for his slender figure. It was unnatural. The poor fisherman choked a little bit, and he noticed a woman in green leather standing behind the ninja. His eyes bulged; it was an amazon. The tiny part of the man that was still coherent babbled that a ninja and an amazon shouldn't be traveling together, but that part was rather overwhelmed by the parts that were concentrated on the fact that he was choking. He saw the woman-girl place a hard hand on the ninja's shoulder, and gasped with relief when the boy released him.

There were no words, none. The ninja was silent and cold, and the fisherman was too preoccupied with drawing breath to speak. Hawkeye took his friend by the hand and led him to the Inn to rest.

When Nikita had filled them in on what he knew of Bigieu's magic assault on the Navarran ninja, Duran slammed his mug down on the table. It was empty, but the barkeep winced anyway. Spirits had been scarce for a while, and he had still not grown used to the fact that there was now a normal supply. With the ninja freed from Bigieu's spell, Palo was free again.

"Slimy bitch, that one. She's slipped away and left behind a bloodbath. We can't let her get away with this."

Riesz shook her head.

"No, we can't. But there's something bigger, something much bigger than what we've seen so far. We still don't know exactly why she attacked the castle, regardless of what the faerie says. Bigieu must be part of some larger picture. Even if she was randomly attacking, there must still be someone behind her, or she'd have stayed at the castle to cause more havoc."

"And she didn't hunt down all of the amazons, which is out of character for her." Remarked Hawkeye. The demi-human thief added his nod to Hawkeye's solemnly.

"I'm sorry about that, bro. I couldn't protect her."

Hawkeye's orbs remained cold and tearless as he thought of Jessica.

"It's fine, Nik. There wasn't anything you could do. I'm just glad you're alive."

"Anyway," continued Riesz, "it's that someone else we have to worry about, not Bigieu."

Duran was a bit shocked at Riesz's cool evaluation of the situation.

"But…Riesz, your friends died at her hand. How can you…"

The valkyrie shook her head, disturbing her long, green locks that she had let down from their normal confinement in mourning for her father. She cupped her cool hand around his and smiled.

"I know that, Duran. And I will never stop hating her for that. I will have my revenge, someday. But until that day comes, I have to concentrate on the larger picture Bigieu is a part of. She's only the first bird in the flock, I'm sure there are others."

"Like the Red Wizard." Muttered the knight. Angela chortled. Duran glared at her, demanding an answer to a silent question.

"Oh, Duran. Koren isn't nearly the enemy you think he is. He's just a neophyte when it comes to magic, really." Though she laughed, her eyes were clouded. "I think he sold a piece of his soul for power."

Duran's words died on his tongue. Riesz was so horrified that she did not speak. But the faerie, as always, had plenty to say.

:That's…abominable. Angela, if you're right, then he has sinned…unforgivably. That is a perversion of Mana.: 

The sorceress nodded.

"I know that. I'd hoped that it wasn't true, and I never believed it before I had magic. Koren and I were friends, a long time ago. We were a lot alike, both without any magic. Then he started going all bigshot with his fireballs and red cape, and left me and Iris behind. I still denied it, but I've been talking with Wisp, and he agrees with me. There's no way that Koren had that much latent magic ability. It has to be blood magic. That's why he gets more powerful every time he kills."

Stunned silence met the end of her words, but she did not let it linger.

"So we have two problems on our hands. It's all a part of the Quest, right? So we should get moving on it. Faerie, where's the next spirit?"

Quickly recovering, the faerie switched gears, trying to remember. She gave a tiny sigh, and shook her head. _:I still can't remember, Angela. We'll have to talk to Prince Richard.:_

"King Richard." Corrected Duran. He frowned.

:I said that.: 

"No you didn't, you said Prince."

__

:Ah…it must be the information the other faeries gave me. It's been a long time since any of us have been over here.: she said quickly. Little sweat drops flew off of her forehead, and she abruptly disappeared into Angela's head.

__

That's not fair. Said the sorceress.

:So? There are some things that he doesn't need to know. It would only hurt him, and I need him whole and sound of mind. He will find out, but I'll not be the one to tell him.: __

Are there things about me that you haven't told me?

:Of course.:

Angela's mouth nearly dropped open, but she caught herself before letting such an expression grace her perfect face.

WHAT?!! You live inside my head and you haven't told me everything? __

:It is the same with you, Angela. There are things the Goddess knows about every being of Mana that they would cower at. It is like the difference between mother and child, to give you an analogy.:

But…oh, whatever. I'll let it slide, for now. 

The faerie made a slight noise of assent.

:Go to the port and get on a ship back to Maia quickly. The king of Forcena is waiting.: Back in Maia… 

The ghost cursed darkly as the bag he carried struggled wildly. Captain had told the ghost that his job would be easy, just nab the little girl and bring her back to the boat. Captain apparently hadn't reckoned with the half-pint's morning star, and failed to warn his…emissary of her dangerous tendency to wave the damned thing around.

Still, the pay was good, a bit of human soul every night. Couldn't beat that, not even in the Cave of Darkness itself. And it wasn't so bad, she was annoying, but the ghost just made part of himself immaterial so that she bashed thin air instead of his side.

Just as the ghost was preparing to step on board the ship, a howl broke the stillness of the night. The ghost shivered, but continued up the boarding plank. He did not notice as a dark, wolfish shape slipped in behind him.

"A free ride?"

Angela was a little skeptical. The brawny sailor before them had told them boisterously that the ride to Maia was completely free of charge, but she had her suspicions. Duran nudged her in the side playfully.

"Come on, Angie. Maybe Mana's watching over us, or something. It's free."

"More importantly," put in Riesz, "it's the only ship going to Maia. If we take any of the others, we'll have to backtrack from Vizel."

Hawkeye did not say anything, it did not really matter to him which ship they took, or what route. Most of his thoughts were occupied with trying to absorb all of the new techniques he was learning from the Elementals, so he was letting the others make most of the decisions.

"I promise the food's good and the beds are better, girlie!" said the loud sailor. Angela gave him a disgusted look, but shrugged.

"If it's the only way, let's take it."

"Very good! You won't regret it!"

"Yeah, I'm sure we won't." Angela muttered. Riesz looked at her, concerned, but Angela waved the valkyrie's attentions away. Something about the ship bothered her, but it was just a feeling, and she could not act on a feeling.

Feels like…that curse… 

A terrible scream echoed through the compartments of the ship, _Grim Rider_.

"What the hell?!!"

Duran rolled out of his bed when he heard the sound, bringing bed clothes and side table down with him. When he had untangled himself, he found Hawkeye already out of bed with weapons ready, though the ninja was clothed only in his baggy pants.

"Hush." Hissed the ninja. His sharp hearing picked up no further screams; it seemed that it was over for the moment. As Duran was trying to untangle himself from his comforter, the door to their cabin flew open. Angela stood in the doorway, even more scantily clad than usual, in only a bra and silk panties. Though the night was cold, the sorceress appeared not to notice. Riesz stood behind her, wearing a conservative nightgown that fell to her knees.

"Did you two hear that?" demanded Angela. She stormed into the room, and Hawkeye relaxed momentarily.

"Uh…I…uh…" Duran was incoherent. Angela looked down at her attire and scoffed.

"Boy, if you can't take a pretty girl in a bathing suit, you've got no right to call yourself a man. Now, I asked you a question, give me an answer!"

Behind the tempestuous Angela, Riesz blushed deeply. Hawkeye thought it rather cute. Duran was still babbling.

:Wait.: 

The faerie bobbed out of Angela's head suddenly, cupping a tiny hand around her ear.

:I hear something.: 

Hawkeye was at Angela's side so quickly that the girl jumped involuntarily.

"What is it, Faerie?" he asked softly.

So weird. He used to talk all the time. I wonder what happened to him during that class change. Angela thought. :It's…a Spirit. It's weak, but there. I think it's Shade. That means this place is…: 

"The Ghost Ship!"

Angela shrugged on her normal outfit quickly and picked up her staff. Since she had the less bulky armor (enchanted bikinis didn't weigh quite so much as leather), she helped Riesz get into her leathers and lace up the sides. The valkyrie gave her a nod of thanks, and they left their room to find the boys.

Hawkeye was by the stairs to the upper level, listening for monsters. A hint of color remained in Duran's cheeks as he stood a bit away from the ninja, apparently still and deep in thought. When she passed by the knight, Angela struck a provocative pose (just for fun, of course), bringing the roses in his cheeks to full bloom. The faerie made a soft sound of disapproval in her mind, but Angela ignored it.

"So how do we get off this piece of junk?"

The sorceress clicked her nails on a wooden crate that was filled with rotten goods. The ship had seemed sound when they boarded it, but now it was dilapidated to the point that the caulking of the ship was beginning to fall apart, and all of the supplies were long gone.

__

:Shade was imprisoned on the Ghost Ship against his will, a short time after the last conflict.: The faerie floated about outside Angela's head, inspecting the floorboards and other parts of the ship meticulously. _:It must be connected to his energy, that's why he's so weak. There's no telling how long he's been forced to move this ship around, and he must have picked up quite a few spiritual passengers. He always seems to attract unsavory characters, though he's likable enough.:_

Hawkeye motioned for them to follow him up the stairs, his daggers out, and the faerie continued her mental explanation from Angela's head.

:He's probably possessed, like Jinn was. You'll have to fight one of the enemy's beasts again. Are you prepared?: 

Duran nodded, as did Angela. Riesz was less certain.

"Darkness…the spirit of Darkness. Are we going to meet him?"

Her tone was a bit fearful, and Angela chortled.

"What, afraid of the dark, valkyrie?"

She was joking, but Riesz paled, and Hawkeye gave her a stormy look. The lighting in the ship was terrible, and the moon that filtered in through the windows did little to help. Rare sympathy passed over Angela's face, and her face fell. She took Riesz's hand apologetically and squeezed it.

"Look inside." She murmured. The valkyrie opened her hands, and a little spark of light magic escaped. It floated up to her head, flitting about playfully. In the darkness of the ship's hold, it was a small comfort, but Riesz smiled anyway.

"Get ready." Whispered Hawkeye. Several slimes slinked around in the hallway before them, and chibi-devils were floating around everywhere. Angela growled deep in her throat and raised her staff.

"Demons never learn, do they?" she remarked. "Holy Ball!"

On the other side of the ship… 

"Carlie will spank you bad ghosties!"

Several partially corporeal forms already lay on the ground, mangled in various ways by the tiny terror waving around an equally tiny morning star. Nearby, the wolf-boy was fighting as well, taking out all of the ghosts that escaped Carlie's admittedly terrifying wrath. In retrospect, he might have thought that they made a good team, but he was too busy at the moment avoiding the girl's anger himself to think about it.

When they had finished, the little girl panted off the last of her temper and slumped to the ground. She peered around the room with wide, blue eyes, and caught sight of the wolf-boy. He was nursing a wound to his arm, apparently from one of the ghosts' vicious claws. Concerned, the girl wandered over to him and placed a small hand on his arm. He winced, but she made a soft cooing noise that was obscurely comforting, and he found himself calming quickly. She inspected the wound meticulously, prodding it, but somehow without causing any discomfort. For all her apparent age, she was a skilled healer, and the wolf-boy had been brought up never to resist healers.

"It's icky, wolfie. Has to be cleaned!"

His eyes widened, but she just chanted for a few moments, and a few droplets of shining water fell from her hand into the wound. It stung for a moment, but her strangely strong grip kept him from lashing out at her. Amazingly, he felt the poison literally disappear from the injury, and he gave the girl an astonished look.

"Hold still some more. Carlie will make it all better."

She chanted some more, and sparks of light erupted from her hands this time. Instantly, the wound was sealed and closed, completely healed, leaving not even a scar.

"That…amazing." He intoned. The little girl smiled energetically and released his arm. He flexed it experimentally, finding all of the rent muscles whole.

"Wisp taught Carlie to do that!"

"Wisp?"

Angela peered at the bookshelves intently, trying to puzzle out their significance. Most of the books were completely rotten, but there was one on each of the four shelves that was readable.

"_Book of Blood, Book of Death, Book of Curses, Book of Death."_

That was what the sign had told them. As Angela worked on the puzzle, Duran stood around, impatiently tapping his foot. Riesz was glad for her light, the room seemed even darker than the rest of the ship had been. Hawkeye was inscrutable, as usual of late.

"Ah-ha!"

Angela jumped to her feet triumphantly and ran from bookshelf to bookshelf, pulling out four books in a seemingly random order. Riesz jumped when the wall beside her disappeared. The sorceress grinned and walked confidently into the next room.

__

:Be careful, Angela.: warned the faerie. Angela waved away the warning casually, and began to inspect the book that lay open on the table. Riesz followed, jumping at every shadow that moved in the dim light.

"I wonder what this is." Mused Angela. She sat down at the writing desk and blew dust off of the book. "Hmm…Captain's Log…"

DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE 

The mental shriek tore through all four of them, and the two boys came racing into the room. Angela fell out of her chair, and Riesz suppressed a scream.

Ah, at last! I've done it! 

This time, Riesz did scream. A transparent figure appeared right next to her, reaching out to her insanely.

I've become a ghost! This is excellent! Here, you try it! 

He reached into her chest, and cold fingers closed around her heart. And then she was a ghost herself.

Is this, what it feels like to be dead? I expected it to be colder, somehow. 

Riesz opened her eyes, and found the faerie looking back at her. She looked down at her hands, they were transparent. Her three friends were back in the other room, pressed against the wall in a bundle.

I… __

:You aren't dead, Riesz.: came the faerie's voice. She frowned at the cowering trio in the other room, but they shook their heads, fearful of "catching" the curse like Riesz had. _:You're only cursed. Once we free Shade, your curse should be broken. Just sit tight until that happens. The ghosts can't harm you when you're like this.:_

The valkyrie fumed silently, unable to make any noise. She sat down on the floorboards with some annoyance, and the faerie shook her head.

"This entire boat is a floating freak show!"

Angela caved in the skull of a zombie with her staff, but another one rose to take its place. Beside her, Duran was cutting apart more zombies, and Hawkeye was taking care of the ones that they missed. The knight grunted his assent quietly, not skipping a beat. Losing the flow of the fight with the undead hordes would most likely prove fatal, since there were so many to their three. Even Hawkeye was beginning to sweat from mild fear.

Just as the zombies begin to overtake them, a pair of strange beings burst into the hallway from one of the cabins. One of them was a bouncing ball with golden curls, the other a boy with fur like a wolf's and a long mane of orange hair.

"More ghostie bottoms to spank!"

In a matter of moments, the little girl and her big friend had cleared a pathway to the three harried travelers. Angela's eyes widened.

Carlie? Goddess! What's she doing here? This is no place for a… 

She stopped in mid-thought. This _child_ had just waded through an army of undead like it was water. Clearly, she was not an ordinary little girl. The boy with her, too, was strange. At a distance, Angela had thought that he was just a very large man, but up close, she saw his true nature.

A beastman? I wonder… 

She looked at Hawkeye worriedly. The vision of the terrible damage wrought by the beastfolk hung in her eyes, turning her vision red. Of the three of them, Angela, Hawkeye, and Riesz, the ninja had been the worst affected by the destruction. Perhaps it was his dislike for them that made it worse, but she could see the muscles in his slim body tense as the beastman approached. In the absence of Riesz, Angela was not sure that she would be able to hold him back.

She felt a tug on one of the bits of material that flared out from her leotard, and looked down. Carlie had somehow bounced around to her side as she observed the beastman. The red faded from her vision.

"What is Angie doing on ghostie boat?" asked the tiny girl. Angela's eyes widened. Something about the girl had changed. It was nearly imperceptible, but there was an undeniable look of…wisdom in the girl's eyes. Her eyes, which once had shone with the innocence of a child, now simply glowed. They were deeper now, pools of light in her sweet face. Angela looked down benignly, uncertain of what to say. Someone else spoke for her.

:We're here to save the spirit, young Charlotte.: 

The faerie had manifested before the little girl's face, and she hovered there with her best serene mask on. Fascinated, Carlie reached out to touch her, but stopped when the faerie emitted a bright flare of light. Apparently cowed, the little girl stumbled back, falling into the support of the wolf-boy's leg. He sat down so his head was somewhat near the level of hers, and gaped with her at the scion of Mana.

:Long ago, the Goddess planted seeds of Herself in the land. All beings rose from the earth, the children of the Goddess. Not all were Seeds, however, most simply rose from the unions of spirits, and then with each other. But there have always been those who carry Her power, they are Her Seeds of Mana.: 

The boat rocked violently, but none of them moved an inch, enthralled by the fey being's words.

:At last, all six Seeds are united. I had feared it would never happen, but at last you have all come together. The Goddess is pleased.: 

A ghost came up behind Angela, but Duran simply cleaved it in two absently and returned his eyes to the faerie.

:In light or darkness, you are all born from the Goddess, in the direct bloodlines of the Mana Tribe. It is you who must save the world in this time of trouble, you who must strive to save Fa'Diel. The Goddess weeps now, but She is happy, joyful to see her children. I have no doubt that you will not disappoint Her.: 

With a loud pop, the faerie and her divine light disappeared, and there was not a dry eye in the circle of five friends to be seen. Deep within the depths of the ship, a valkyrie felt the touch of her Goddess, the one she served, and tears of no substance rolled down her translucent cheeks.

As they made their slow way up the body of the strangely enormous ship, Hawkeye and Duran eyed Angela worriedly. Every time she looked at the little enchantress, she smiled toothily. And Angela never smiled, not unless she wanted something.

What is going through that girl's brain right now? Thought the ninja. He was torn between trying to get a good look at his friend's face, and shunning the overly-large wolf-boy. Hawkeye understood from the faerie's words that Kevin was a good man, but he could not get past his disgust for beastmen in general. It would take a cold day in one of the nine hells before he trusted a beastman. Still, the others seemed to trust the boy, even like him. Duran treated him like a comrade in arms, and had no trouble keeping an eye on the scheming sorceress. He didn't see Astoria after those…creatures tore it to bits. Animals, the lot of them. 

Fortunately, the faerie was not listening in on his thoughts at that moment, she would certainly have taken offense. 

There's something about him… 

Though he did not know it, every time he watched the big youth save Carlie from a ghoulish claw in the back, or knock a specter into the path of one of Angela's spells, Hawkeye's attitude toward the boy softened. The absurd, blue beanie that lay atop Kevin's head certainly didn't look like the headgear of a murderer. Everything about the wolfish youth made Hawkeye want to trust him, there simply was no guile there. The boy was obviously not simple in the mind, though his thick accent in the common tongue of Fa'Diel made him speak slowly and with few pronouns, but there was an innocence there, the soul of a pacifist. Hawkeye found himself wondering if that peaceful spirit would remain through the trails of blood their quest followed. Wearily, he thrust such thoughts away, and concentrated on the wooden planks that formed the slow path ahead.

"HOLY BALL!!!"

Angela's sweet voice filled the night air with light. Surrounded by a strange fog, the group of five stood on the deck of the huge ship. Above them, a great, white ghost floated, projecting a malevolent white light that only served to make the shadows around it seem darker. A column of a purer light rained down on its damned head as Angela tapped into Wisp's magic, but the thing just disappeared into the fog, making it impossible to hit. Duran growled his frustration, his sword appeared to be useless in this fight.

"Silly ghostie, you can't hide from Carlie!"

At Angela's side, the little girl began to weave arcane signs in the air. They were dark, the color of blood, but it was a sweeter darkness, one of relief and healing, rather than the pained, torturous aura of black that lay all around them. A sense of a vast, cold river filled the area, and Carlie reached across the barrier between life and death to pluck an errant soul out and draw it to her. As she finished drawing the last crimson rune, the spirit burst into being before her. Startled, Angela stumbled back, she had not felt the rush of water that Carlie had touched.

Hawkeye had.

Death? This girl can mess with death? What are we doing? We're playing with powers we don't understand in the slightest! 

The ninja knew the sweet touch of Mana, Gnome had often graced his shuriken with a blessing of Earth. But he feared this cold river of death that Carlie had called. Having seen Angela play with her own magic at times, sometimes coming very near to injuring herself and others, he wondered again whether or not they were ready for this.

There was no time to think. The apparition known as Gorva materialized before him, and he had to roll to the side to avoid a heavy blast of fog-turned-solid. It seemed that the very fog around them was part of the ghost's body, and there was nearly nothing they could do to protect themselves against it. The vaporous punch landed anyway, and Hawkeye was sent flying across the deck to the ship's hull, where he twisted his body just enough so that he did not break his skull. With a growl, Duran slashed crosswise along the creature's back and stood by, expecting it to dissolve as the other inhabitants had, with a howl and an inrushing of air. It did not. Instead, another punch sent the big knight soaring through the air as easily as the first had done to Hawkeye. The great beast winced, but seemed unharmed. Duran's big sword had cloven straight through its body, but it was like hitting air, more always came back to fill what had been there.

__

I guess it's up to the girls, then. Thought the ninja, his face grim. _The best we can do is draw its attention away from them. Hope Angie hasn't gotten rusty with that light magic of hers._

Stubbornly, Kevin came in for a third pass, and his arms fared no better than Duran or Hawkeye's as wings, and Gorva melted away into the darkness. Meanwhile, Carlie was pointing fervently at the floating Gorva, trying to get some sort of message across to the dead spirit she had summoned. It stared at her unblinkingly and unknowingly.

"Just find the big ghostie!" screeched the little girl, patience gone. Evidently, the ghost finally got the picture, because it immediately floated straight up into the air, where a burst of light lashed at the heavy fog, parting it to reveal the errant Gorva.

"Aha!" shouted Angela. "Holy Ball!"

The screams of the ghostly beast were louder this time, Angela was getting better at hitting it. But the light soon disappeared, and the fog merged again, leaving a seamless hiding place for Gorva to escape to whenever it needed to. Angela's eyes darted back and forth, and she used her mage's senses to try to locate it.

__

No such luck. She thought. _It's like the thing's everywhere at once, I can't find it._

Gorva did not reappear for a long time, and the boys cautiously came back over to Carlie and Angela, looking about warily. A heavy rain began to fall from the sky, and at first they paid it no mind.

"It's…hot." Said Carlie. She squirmed uncomfortably, and shook the dark liquid away from her hands enthusiastically. The others were in some discomfort as well, but they were uncertain why. When Angela's skin began to sizzle, she gasped with the pain, and understood.

"It's acid!"

All five of them began to shake the liquid away from their skin and clothing, but it did little good. Where the rain fell, it left painful burns, or ruined fabric. It was as close to hell as any of them had gotten.

"That's enough!"

Angela's eyes flared with pale, golden fire, and a ball of light erupted from her form, expanding until it included all five of them. Where the light passed, the rain could not penetrate. Duran shivered, Angela's anger was a sight to behold.

"Come out and play with me, Gorva!" she said in a light, lilting voice that hardly hid the fire that lurked beneath the surface. Angela was angry, and when Angela was angry, you did what she said. Unfortunately for the ghost, it had no idea of this, and its response was to form a portal of dark energy before the group of fighters, trying to pull them in. Contemptuously, Angela pointed a slender finger at the evil gate, and it evaporated in a shaft of white light.

But Duran could see that her grip on the light shield was weakening then, it faded in and out alarmingly, and she was shivering. Something had to be done before the shield collapsed completely.

Apparently, Kevin was way ahead of him. The beastman, now in full werewolf form, had leaped into the air, past the shield and into the rain. At the top of his leap, he started to spin wildly, faster and faster, until a cyclone formed around him.

__

Jinn has to be helping him out. Thought Duran. Regardless of spiritual influence, the cyclone had a tremendous effect on Gorva. Being composed almost entirely of mist, the fiend was sucked into the maelstrom, as well as the fog around it. With the ghost's form concentrated in one spot, Angela pulled the shield's remaining power into her clenched fist, and released it. Gorva then had the rather unique experience of exploding on the spot.

:Thank you, you have released me from an eternity of slavery.: 

The rain had stopped, and the group lay in various states of exhaustion about the boat. Duran supported a sluggish Angela, and Carlie was tending the acid burns on Hawkeye and Kevin, requiring both men to lie down on the slimy deck so she could heal them properly. Angela had tried to walk on her own, but she had used too much magic in too short of a time, and found that she was grateful for Duran's strong arm. He held her like she was spun glass, but it was good to be pampered for once. It had been a long time since her daily massages in Altena.

Shade, Elemental Spirit of Darkness, now floated in the night sky before them. He was composed almost entirely of black, with only two pale orbs of golden fire for eyes, and long, angular shapes like bat's wings spread out behind him.

__

:Shade, where is the Stone of Darkness?: asked the faerie. The spirit could not shake his head, but the group got the impression that he had.

:Lost. Long ago, several countries warred for the use of the Stone I protected as a source of energy for their…'machines', something I heartily disapproved of. Devilry, and against the will of the Goddess, but I have never been one of the most powerful spirits, and they overcame me. An evil mage sealed me to this ship, where I have existed since that day.: 

"What happened to the Stone, then?" asked Angela, her voice soft with weariness.

:I do not know, exactly. But I do know that it broke, releasing the God-Beast that slept within it. The Beast went on a rampage, destroying everything in its path. Then, it disappeared. I know not where to, perhaps it is in another world, lying in wait to destroy again.: 

Kevin growled, a deep rumble in his chest that made Hawkeye want to vomit. It reminded him of Astoria, again.

"No, Stone still in Fa'Diel."

He did not elaborate, though Shade looked to him quizzically. Before the spirit could speak, Riesz came running onto the deck.

"It's good to be alive again!" she said, flexing her arms experimentally. She looked to Shade, blinked several times, then decided against letting out a scream. Amazons were made of sterner stuff than that, and she had to be strong if she was to rule Laurant someday.

__

:Glad to have you back.: said the faerie, and she smiled happily. But Riesz had no time to enjoy her renewed liveliness, for the ship began to shake violently beneath their feet at that moment.

"What's going on?" asked Angela, as she nearly fell from Duran's grasp. The big knight held her tighter, almost to bruising, but she did not complain.

__

:This ship was made from my life force.: said the spirit of darkness. _:It is sinking, now that you have freed me.:_

The ship lurched, and they all clung together as it went down, down into the depths of the dark ocean.

Well, this didn't take quite so long as the last chapter. If it seems a bit choppy, that's because I sort of spat it up onto paper whenever the events took me, so don't worry. Please tell me what you think! 

I wanted to thank you, Staci/Nadia, for your comment about my battle scenes. I'm pretty insecure about them, so praise is a really nice self-esteem boost for me. And thanks to you, too, Solarious, I've tried to keep Carlie away from the Terror we know so well. ^_~

~Truewind


	13. Hell's Gambit

A/N: Oh, you remember those Potos on Bucca Island, don't you? Of course you do. Annoying buggers. Well, they get their own in this chapter ^_~. Oh, and Kevin speaks normally, even if he doesn't speak that often. I don't think I could handle having Carlie-speak and Kevin-speak in my fanfic. Too annoying. Anyway…Criticism appreciated, as always. What about the title? I wasn't sure about it, but it has a nice ring to it, and Bucca _is_ a volcano…okay, enough babbling. On with the story.

Hell's Gambit

Water. The damn blue stuff was everywhere! The big warrior had never liked the sea, and now he was going to drown in it!

__

What a Goddess-damned way for a warrior to die!

He floundered, trying to get back to the surface. Twilight made the sea an amorphous mass of near-darkness, so that he could not tell how far away air was. And Duran of Forcena had never been a good swimmer. Something was keeping him from getting anywhere, something weighing him down. He felt his wind failing…

Then, she was there. He felt a warm hand grace his cheek as she pulled him to her breast. A familiar sensation, the touch of sweet lips, and blessed air.

__

:Angela says, "Kick off your boots, you lackwit!":

The faerie's sharp tone cut through the stupor instilled in him by the cold water, and he did as told.

__

:The armor, too. She is helping you with the clasps.:

Time seemed to slow as she broke away from him, letting his breastplate sink into the dark depths. With a powerful kick of her strong legs, she propelled him upward, urging him to do the same. It took a few moments for him to understand the way of it, but he was soon pumping hard, and they made good progress. Just when he thought his lungs might burst, they broke out into the starry night.

He sucked in air with gusto, luxuriating in the lovely feeling of being alive. The moon was out, and it cast a silvery reflection over the dark water. The sea was very calm, hardly stirring except for the occasional small wave.

I still hate water. 

"You _idiot!_ How dare you try to get yourself killed? Drown? I think not! Not while you're traveling with Angela, Fifteenth Princess of Reason!"

She thwacked him over the head with an open hand; he was glad she did not have her staff with her.

"But the water's freezing…" he whined.

"Freezing? Duran, if you think this is cold, you'll never make it when we go to my country. This isn't even chilly compared to the ice floes."

He groaned, and she thwacked him well over the head again.

Riesz was alone. She had already kicked off her boots and rid herself of the light armor she wore. Her hair had escaped its restraints and was floating around in the salty water around her, a fan of golden strands in the faint moonlight.

"Is there anyone here?"

She tread water easily, the fishermen of Palo had taught her, almost before she could walk, the ways of the water. Thus, she was in no danger, but it was lonely out here on the water, with no other beings in site, and land so far away in the distance. She knew the island that loomed far off from her was Bucca Isle, the home of Bucca Volcano. The great mountain was smoking for the first time in hundreds of years.

I read that Bucca was an inactive volcano, but I guess it wasn't as dormant as people thought. 

Big, blue eyes loomed in her mind's eye. She didn't know why he always haunted her, she even hated the very fact that he did. But she could not deny it. She could ignore the way she felt, the warmth that welled up in her when she thought of him, but she could not deny it. And here, with no apparent human activity within sight, he haunted her even more profoundly than he usually did. She longed for his quiet solidity, his spicy scent, everything about him.

She hated it.

Damn that man! I'm a princess of Wind Kingdom, I can't fall in love! Not yet. So why does the Goddess torment me so? She did this, I know She did. I have known love, and this is it. But why? Why now, of all times? Why not when we complete our task? Why is it him? 

She had not even been certain she wanted to love someone, other than her parents and brother. Her first loyalty was to her people, then to the land they stood on, and only when her heart had taken care of those worries could she be allowed a third. But in the absence of kingdom and its dwellers, she found herself lost.

Without Angela, I'd have fallen apart long ago. I should have been the one to lead, I've led warriors since I could bark out a command. 

But she knew why Angela led this moving legend of a story. Angela was chosen of the Goddess. All of the Seeds were, really, but Angela was _the_ Chosen. _The_ Seed of Mana.

How she knew, Riesz did not know. But there was a certain radiance about Angela that led the others to follow her. Riesz had seen the god-touched before, the keeper of the Pathway to the Heavens was touched. But Angela seemed totally unaware of it. 

Frowning, the valkyrie began the long swim to shore.

"Magic light, grant Carlie a miracle! Heal Light!"

Light pooled in Hawkeye's eyes, and he woke with a start, coughing up water. At least there was solid ground…or sand beneath him. A rough hand pounded his back to help him out, and he turned gratefully away from Carlie's delighted face to thank his helper.

The beastman was leering at him lopsidedly, obviously pleased that he was awake.

"Wasn't sure Carlie could wake you up. Sea almost ate you."

Hawkeye's blue eyes widened, and he scrambled back away from Kevin, sudden repugnance robbing him of thankfulness. Carlie stared at him, her own baby blues sad.

"Hawkie…"

"How can you stand to be near…that thing?"

He shook himself. Kevin shrugged and started to walk away, but Carlie grabbed his arm with a tiny hand, then stormed over to Hawkeye. She slapped him hard across the face.

"Kevin not a _thing_! He save Hawkie's life!"

Hawkeye rubbed his jaw, she was strong for her age. Breathing hard, Carlie glared at him.

"Sea was eating Hawkie, and Kevin dove down to save him! Hawkie should be thankful!"

"Thankful for what?"

Using the new voice as an excuse to avoid that sapphire gaze, Hawkeye turned to look. Riesz was coming up behind them, her hair wet and unbound. A small part of him noted that even disheveled and shivering, the valkyrie was beautiful.

"Hawkie is being a mean man!" Carlie cried, stabbing her finger through the air at him. Hawkeye winced, and Kevin rather looked as though he wished he were back in Beast Kingdom.

"Mean man…What did you do?"

Riesz's eyes grew cold. She loved children, and if you messed with one, may the Goddess protect you, for Riesz was a hellcat unbound when a child was threatened. Hawkeye gulped and averted his gaze. Unfortunately, that meant he was looking directly at Carlie, whose eyes were just as accusatory as the valkyrie's.

"Well?" Riesz demanded imperiously.

"It's nothing." He replied, looking at the ground.

"Nothing." Riesz grabbed him by his shirt collar, her eyes blazing. "What in the Goddess' name did you do? I swear, if you've hurt her, I'll…"

"Nothing is right." Said the beastman, shaking off Carlie's grasp. The little girl's eyes softened, and she looked up at him quizzically. "He has done nothing. Let it go."

With that, he went off to be by himself. Carlie made as though she might run after him, but Riesz patted her shoulder to keep her.

"Poor Kevie…" said the little girl.

Hawkeye wanted to cry.

When Angela dragged the nearly inert body of Duran onto shore a short while later, the others were glad of the distraction. Carlie worked her magic again, and he was soon revived, albeit still complaining of the cold. When he mentioned it for the fifth time, the expected thwack did not come down on his head.

"Oh Duran…I know a way to get you warmed up…"

Angela ran a warm finger around the rim of his ear, and he shivered. When she started to run it down his back, his shivers became blushes. She took her hand away and laughed, _then_ thwacked him over the head.

"Stop complaining. It'll be warm come morning." She turned to the others. "I hate to tell you this, but we really should get moving. This beach is no place for us to sleep, not with monsters out and about. I know you're all exhausted, I am too, but we need to find a proper shelter before we can rest."

There was some grumbling and mumbling, mostly from the male members of the party, but everyone managed to rouse him or herself, and they made their way up the island and into the lush, tropical jungle that awaited them.

"Carlie, stop poking me!"

Angela wanted to wring the child's neck, but the little girl's cuteness saved her, barely.

"But Angie…there's a giant turtle thingie watching Carlie!"

Angela turned to look where Carlie pointed, but saw nothing.

"Carlie, don't play tricks on me."

"You shouldn't!" called Hawkeye from somewhere behind them. "She's got a mean hand with that staff of hers!"

Angela growled, but managed to contain herself. They walked on for a few more ells, then Carlie poked her in the leg again.

"Carlie, I swear, if you do that again, I'll…"

This time, when she followed the girl's finger, it led to a huge…turtle.

Angela screamed. Duran came racing up, his sword out. His shield had been lost in the sea, but he had managed to keep his sword somehow.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

Angela took several deep breaths, trying to calm herself. She brushed away Duran's concerned glance, knowing that the beast had disappeared again without having to look.

"It's nothing you need to worry about."

"Diamond Missile!"

The jewels of the earth answered Angela's call, quickly eliminating the flock of needle-feathered birds that had chased them to the entrance of a settlement. After several squawks and feathery explosions, they continued into the village.

"Carlie knows this place." Said the little girl.

"What's a town doing in on a volcanic island?" Hawkeye mused, taking in the exotic housing of the little priests that inhabited the village. Small, straw huts dotted the village, each with a strange bird icon hung over the doorway, or perched on a roof. The others ignored Hawkeye.

"How do you know, Carlie?" asked Riesz, kneeling so she could see into the girl's eyes.

"Carlie has seen the Dark Priests in her dreams many, many times. They not bad people. Only…mis…mis…"

"Misled." Kevin finished for her.

"That's it! Misled! They not believe in Her, they believe in a bird god. But they good people."

With a few fervent nods to emphasize her point, Carlie dashed into the village, where a bonfire was lit. The floating priests appeared to be dancing around the fire, on top of those silly plates that they used for their levitation. The little girl joined in, whirling around happily, looking particularly wild and primal in the glow of the firelight.

"A bikini? What does a village of men want with a bikini?"

Angela picked up the scant garment warily.

Sickos… 

"Bi-ki-ni? That is what this loincloth is? I did not know." The little priest who was selling armor began to sweat as Angela glared at him.

"You really don't know what a bikini is." 

The small man shook his head quickly. 

"You people really are in the middle of nowhere, aren't you?"

"No-where. No, we are in the middle of Bucca Isle."

"Never mind. I'll take it."

"Of course. That will be four thousand luc."

"Four thousand luc…you've got to be kidding me! For this thing? It won't even fit me without magic!"

"You do not like it? Very well." He began to put it away in his bag, but Angela sighed and handed him a bag of money.

"You're a thief, you know. You're just making me pay all that because you have a captive audience."

"I am not the thief, your friend over there is."

Angela looked over her shoulder to see Hawkeye trying to remove one of the large rubies set into one of the bird god icons.

"Hawkeye! You're going to get us all cursed! Put that dagger down and leave the statues alone! Do I need to come over there?"

Removing his hand like it had been burned, Hawkeye slunk away dejectedly. Angela smiled. This was more like how he had been before the class change.

Maybe he hasn't changed all that much. I just wasn't looking hard enough. I hope that's it. 

"We are Dark Priests, we do not question the will of the bird-god. If we die, we die. If you wish to find your way off of this island before the volcano erupts, I suggest that you seek out the protector of the island, he may grant you passage."

Duran scratched his head thoughtfully and thought about what the priest had said for a moment.

"The protector of the island?"

"Yes. His cave was blocked in one of the recent earthquakes, however, and you will need to find another way in."

"Right. Thanks."

Duran gathered everyone together before the fire. The priests had since stopped dancing, and sat about the fire in a circle, conversing and drinking some strange, fruity liquid that soothed the throat and quenched thirst as water never could.

"The priest says we need to find the island's guardian to hitch a ride. Thing is, his cave's blocked, so we'll have to look for another entrance."

"Maybe not." Angela said, her face speculative. She was dressed in the tiger bikini she had bought, and just looking at her seemed to make Duran's temperature rise. "We do have the Elemental of earth with us, he should be able to help."

__

:Yes, Gnome would be able to clear any amount of rock from your path.: the faerie confirmed.

"First, though, we need to get some rest."

Duran looked around at his friends at Angela's words. Carlie's eyes were drooping, and she leaned against Kevin wearily, having spent the last of her energy dancing with the priests. Kevin himself was nodding off as they sat there, occasionally starting himself awake and staring around to see if anyone had noticed he had fallen asleep. Riesz's hair was still down, and she looked longingly at the straw futons the priests had lain out for them to sleep on.

"The Goddess might not be here," said the valkyrie, stopping to yawn, "but some force of good protects this village. We can sleep in peace."

"All right then, let's sleep. We can find the guardian tomorrow." Angela cocked an ear toward the mountain for a moment. "Bucca's not going to blow anytime soon, we should be fine." But her eyes were dark with worry.

An explosion beneath the ground rocked the earth, and Hawkeye grasped the rock face beside him for support.

__

"Bucca's not going to blow anytime soon, we should be fine! My arse. Angela, is your magic broken? Because the sure doesn't _seem_ like fine to me!" he mocked.

"Oh really? You try communing with a volcano that's been asleep for two hundred years and see how well you do! I'd like to see you try to use any elemental magic, thief-boy!"

She meant it in the lightness of the conversation, but he seemed to take her seriously, much to her dismay. She'd thought that it was as it had been before, that she could joke with him as they once had, but…

"I have been, Angela. You just don't pay very close attention."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, incredulous.

"This."

The ninja pulled a dagger from his pocket and concentrated hard on it. After a few seconds, it glowed a faint purple, the color of Gnome's attack magic. Angela's eyes widened.

"How long have you been doing that?"

They walked through the levels of Bucca with some trepidation now, the volcano was shaking the island more and more often, and there were monsters threaded between the waterfalls and hills of the tropical paradise. The birds that were enchanted with Gnome's power were particularly nasty.

"Just a little while, since we came to Bucca. Helps a lot against those birds we've been seeing."

"Oh…but why? Why do you need to do that? Isn't my magic good enough?"

Now it was Hawkeye's turn to be surprised, Angela's eyes began to tear. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder as they walked, and she took it gratefully.

"I'm sorry, my magic just hasn't been very reliable lately."

"It's probably just nerves."

"I hope so."

:This? Aw…that'll be a cinch! I'll have this boulder out of your way in two blinks.: 

When they had reached the entrance to the guardian's cave, Angela had called to Gnome, and he had come, but only slowly. She wanted to weep. The magic was still there, and she could reach it if she tried, but it was becoming harder and harder to do so. Calling Gnome had taken everything she had.

The little spirit pushed up his sleeves, grasped the boulder with his stubby hands, and tossed it merrily out of the way.

__

:There you go!: he said cheerfully, and promptly disappeared. Carlie dashed inside, Kevin close on her heels. Riesz and Hawkeye followed, talking with their heads pushed close together. Angela envied them, she could see the quiet chemistry that sang between them. Nothing seemed to be going right for her lately. Duran had been distant since the incident in the sea, Hawkeye was even weirder than before, and her magic was acting up.

Damn it all! What's wrong with me? 

"Angela, you coming?" Duran turned away from the cave mouth to motion for her to follow. She shook herself and hurried inside, not noticing his frown as she went past.

What is wrong with me? 

"Something wrong?" the big knight took her hand as she passed, but she shook him off irritably.

"No. Nothing."

Nothing you can do anything about, anyway. No need to make everyone worry. I'm sure I can figure this out on my own. 

Inside her mental refuge, the faerie bit her lip. She knew what was wrong, and how to fix it, but she could not tell Angela. That was the nature of this dilemma. Much as she hated to see the girl suffer, she knew that Angela had to unravel the mystery of higher magicks on her own.

"Angela, some help here?"

Riesz was sparring with a strange, white-furred creature that used its tongue to attack her, and healed itself and its fellows infuriatingly. It had her on the edge of a cliff face, and she was hard-pressed to keep it from pushing her over the edge.

"Okay! O spirit of darkness here my call…"

:No.: 

Angela reached out to Shade, and found nothing. She tried Jinn, then Gnome, and finally Wisp, but found nothing. She could not touch Mana any longer.

"Evil Gate!" Carlie waved her morning star around, and a portal of dark energy opened up to suck the creature attacking Riesz in. It reappeared several feet away, but Hawkeye was able to dispatch it then. Angela fell to her knees, dropping her cane on its ruby tip.

"No…it can't be…not again. I can't stand it! No, I won't stand for it!"

She did weep then, shedding all the tears of shame and despair that she had never let free as a child. She cried and cried, refusing to let any of the others help her or even touch her. Her magic was gone again, she could not touch it. Mana had fled her, and she had nothing.

__

She was in the dark chamber again, and the four strange figures stood in ranks on either side of her. The man in black stepped forward and caressed her cheek with a gloved hand, and she slapped it away.

"Who are you, anyway? What is this place?"

"This place, dear Princess of Reason, is your mind. It is a dark, cold place where nothing lives. You have fashioned it this way."

"No…I hate it here. Why would I make my mind into a place that I hate?"

"Truly? Do you hate this place so much? Whenever you felt particularly sorry for yourself in your childhood, you came here for comfort. Why is such a place comforting? And why do you suppose that we have come here? You do know who we are."

"Yes…the Elementals. And you're here…because of my magic. I can't find it anymore, it's gone. I don't know why you've come to me, I'm useless."

"That's precisely the attitude that landed you in this situation, Angela." Replied Shade. He reached out to touch her cheek again, and she did not resist.

"Whatever. I've tried everything, nothing works."

"That's because you're trying too hard." Said the man in gold and silver armor, Wisp. She turned to him, startled, and he grinned happily. "It isn't that you don't have the power, it's that you have too much of it."

"When you call gemstones from the ground, they wish to come, but none are large enough to answer your call. They are ashamed of themselves, believing that they will not meet your expectations." Said the dwarf, obviously Gnome.

"What? I don't…Stones can't…"

"Of course they think. All things created by the Goddess think. Stones just don't think the way that you do. You have much power in the ways of Mana, but you must learn to refine it, to use a lighter hand. What you had before you became the Sorceress was but a pebble compared to the mountain that you wield now."

"But I've been using my magic for a long time since the class change!" Angela spluttered. "Why did it suddenly change?"

"That, I leave to Jinn to explain."

Shade stepped back to where he had stood, next to Gnome, and Angela turned her attention to the wind spirit in yellow. He flushed, an odd phenomenon on such a powerful being.

"It's my fault, really. I thought that we could put a dampening spell on your magic to make it so you'd gradually grow accustomed to the increasing power granted by the Stone. Unfortunately, it did not work so well as I'd hoped. You resisted our stopgap subconsciously, and your body responded by shutting down your connection to Mana completely."

"So how are you talking to me, then?"

"We aren't idiots, girl." Gnome replied, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "It has taken some time, but we managed to repair the damage. You should be able to use your magic, now. However, we will need to teach you new spells for you to utilize the full power of your new magic."

"New ones? What's wrong with the old spells?"

"Nothing." Said Wisp. "You'll still be able to throw a mean Holy Ball. But they were crafted for a much lesser spellcaster than you are now. Besides, won't it be fun to have some new tricks?"

The Spirit of Light grinned jovially, and she felt her heart lighten considerably.

"Then you weren't avoiding me?"

"Never, Angela of Reason. I would never."

"Angie? Are you okay, Angie? Carlie is worried! Speak to Carlie, Angie!"
"What? Carlie?"
She opened her eyes, and they were red-rimmed from tears.
"Angie is awake, peoples! Come see!"
Her friends rushed over to her, and she felt warmth spread through her body as they questioned her worriedly. Riesz helped her to her feet, Duran offered an arm for support, and even Hawkeye offered a concerned stare before he turned back to watching all of the cave exits at once.
    "I'm all right, really I am. You don't have to worry about me."
"What were you talking about when you fell unconscious?" Riesz asked as she handed Angela off to Duran.
    
"I thought…I thought that I'd lost my magic. Turns out I've got more of it than ever."
    
She grinned, pleased, and leaned against Duran's sturdy form gratefully. "I think I'll be able to help out a lot more, now."
    
The earth around them trembled, and she stumbled.
    
"The tremors are growing in frequency and power." Said Kevin. "We need to move, now."
    
The big beastman looked Angela up and down, assessed her condition, and decided that it would be better to carry her. "I apologize, Princess." He bowed, and thrust her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She squealed and beat at his shoulder ineffectually. He grunted, but started off at a quick run as only he could manage.
    
Duran was appalled.
    
"What the hell do you think…"
    
He started to unsheathe his blade, but Hawkeye touched his hand and spoke softly. "No, he's right. We need to get out of her quickly. He's the strongest of us, so it only makes sense for him to carry her. Now swallow your pride and get your butt moving."
    
The volcano grew hotter and hotter as they progressed down toward the core. Kevin eventually stopped carrying Angela, when she regained some of her strength, and she wore a rather sour grimace the rest of the way down. No one was in a good mood. The "Poto" creature that Riesz had fought higher up seemed to breed like the rabbit it resembled, and it was a singularly annoying animal. Finally, after another of the white-furred monsters cast Heal Light for the fifth time, Angela roared and raised her staff.
    
"EVIL GATE, you spineless curs!"
    
__:With pleasure, Angela.:
    
A yawning portal of energy opened up around the Poto as Shade spoke, and Angela relished its screams as it was sucked inside. When it popped out, little remained of it but tattered bits of fur. Riesz swallowed bile, and Duran awarded Angela with a disgusted, yet satisfied glance.
    
"That was awesome!"
    
Hawkeye shook his head. "We've been down here way too long."
    
"Too much like hell for my taste." Replied Riesz. "Let's get out of here before we all go crazy."
    
"Don't you mean _more_ crazy? We are on this quest, you know."
    
"Shut up."
    
A/N: Okay, so I've got two author's notes in this chapter. I couldn't resist. I was in a rather sadistic mood when I wrote that last bit. ^^;; Hope you all like it. Comments appreciated! (Bwahahaha, I'm ahead again, Sinnatious. =P)


	14. And the Minor Characters Run Wild Behind...

A/N: Sorry for the running dialogue here, but I was having trouble with the description. It gets cleaned up somewhere near the middle of the chapter, so it should be okay. I hope this chapter isn't too terrible.

And the Minor Characters Run Wild Behind Our Backs

"We have received word form the Priest of Light, Sire."

"Old Nicolai? What does he say?"

"According to the scroll, the Heroes are on their way here as we speak, and should arrive before sundown."

"Excellent news. Have quarters arranged for them, will you Jem? The West Wing should have four free, that group of weavers finally left…"

A light cough interrupted the King of Forcena, and he frowned. Jem did not generally interrupt.

"My pardons, Sire, but the scroll also tells us that the heroes chosen by the Goddess now number six, including the Priest's own granddaughter, Charlotte."

"I see. And the other?"

"A half-breed, from Beast Kingdom."

The young secretary's lips curled with some distaste, and Richard let his frown grow deeper.

"Surely those were not the words Nicolai used?"

"Ah…no, Sire. But it was clear form the message…"

Richard sighed.

"Jem, I have told you time and time again that your prejudice clouds your judgment. The Goddess loves all creatures, and so should we. No, do not speak. I have been too soft-handed with you, it seems. You will return to your room immediately, and next week you will attend extra classes with the good brothers. Speak with Honored Arnolde, I will arrange for a special session. You are dismissed."

Blushing furiously, Jem deposited the scroll from Wendel in the hands of another attendant. He bowed deeply, then escaped through the ornate double doors of the Throne Room at a pace that could only be described as a scurry. The guards parted to let him pass, surely grinning behind their face guards. Honored Arnolde was the most boring, long-winded priest on the teaching staff of the capital's school for gifted scholars; extra lessons with the man were a common punishment for young nobles who were too sensitive for the rod. Richard gestured for the scroll, and its holder scrambled to present it, bowed, then scrambled back to his position before Richard could even thank him. The king gave a small shake of his head and turned his attention to the letter.

__

So, young Charlotte has joined this mad quest. I feared this. When I heard she disappeared…Ah, well, she should be safe enough. I've never seen anything like those young people. He laughed ruefully, startling his courtiers._ I wonder if Father felt this way whenever Loki and I hared off on one of our capers._

He winced at the thought of his old friend.

__

Even now, after all these years, it still hurts. I can only be glad that I have no family to share the pain with, no one deserves this.

:Oh, but you do have family, Majesty.:

A presence he had not felt for many years touched his mind.

:Get rid of the kiddies, will you? Old man like me is too cranky to cope with the young 'uns anymore.: 

Richard nodded, gaping as if someone had just poleaxed him. He motioned for everyone in the room to leave.

You're alone? __

:Of course.:

"Robert, Antony, you leave as well."

The two Knights of Gold looked as if they might protest for a few moments, but Richard gave them a stormy look, and they nodded. As they exited, they dragged the last of the lingering courtiers with them.

All clear. :Very good.: 

A shiver of water Mana blurred the air before him, and a man appeared in its place moments later. Said man was very old, and leaned heavily on an ebony walking stick. His face was even more wrinkled than Richard remembered, but there was no doubt as to his identity.

"It's been a long time, Jose." He said, rising from his throne to embrace the old man. Chuckling, Jose patted the younger man's shoulder until they parted.

"Sixteen years, two months, and thirteen days, to be precise. If you keep track of such things, of course."

Jose winked, and Richard laughed, the wizened mage was as sharp as he'd ever been.

"You came here to tell me something?"

"Clarify would be rather the better term, Richie. You've not been entirely honest with yourself, nor a certain other, who happened to be placed in my care sixteen years, two months, and thirteen days ago."

Richard probed his memory. His eyes widened.

"The bastard, Angela? What exactly do you want to clarify about that nasty piece of business?"

Jose closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling slowly. His big, bushy eyebrows (the only hair remaining on his head) knit themselves together.

"A bastard she is, my friend, but not as you perceive her to be."

Richard's expression grew cold.

"Of course she is "as I perceive her to be". You were there, we found her in bed with that fiend, Alberto. It was pretty unmistakable then." Richard snarled at the memory.

"Yes, I was there. I saw, and I was as offended as you. Perhaps more so."

"Oh, offended is a great word for it."

"Nevertheless, Valda did not conceive on that night. She was already with child."

"So who was it? Some serving boy? Maybe that pretty one I recall from dinner that evening. Kanta, I believe. He seemed virile enough to me."

Yes, the memory of that evening was sharp in his mind, much to his disgust.

"Richard, such a ridiculous accusation does not become you."

"Then who was it, old man? Tell me!"

"You, my dear boy. You."

All six Seeds were seated on the back of a gigantic turtle with a flag implanted on his back and a pair of silly goggles. Carlie was up in the front, bouncing up and down energetically as usual, with Kevin occasionally grabbing her before she flew off the side and into the water. Angela was sunbathing, her form stretched out languidly on the beast's backside. Duran clung to the flagpole for dear life, praying that he wouldn't fall off into the water.

Riesz's eyes were dark and brooding, she had much to think about. She glared at Hawkeye's back, he was seated as far away from her as he could manage on the turtle shell. But the ninja was not the only thing on her mind, she was thinking hard about the man they had met in the cave.

__ "Ah, so glad to see you've all made it here." __

He had shimmered into existence before them just as they reached the bottom of the volcano. He was tall, but obscenely thin, and his skin was a pasty white. Long, wicked-looking fangs made his smile more of a feral grin than anything else, a contrast with the rest of him. He was dressed expensively, if tastelessly, in a large black cowl and shined shoes. His hair sprang up from his head in two tufts that showed more of a sign of the comb than Riesz ever saw in Angela's hair. All and all, he looked like a weakling.

"I am the Jagan, Earl of the Evil Eye to you." __

"Somehow, I don't think you're the guardian of Bucca." Angela had said sarcastically. He laughed, a thin hollow laugh that reminded Riesz obscurely of Bigieu.

"Right you are, mageling. I am only a guardian of the Dark Prince, and with the new body we have stolen for him, he shall rise to power once again! Already we have begun the steps to his revival in Navarre, even if that foul brat of a prince does resist our power." A terrible foreboding had run through her body at that moment, and she knew who he spoke of. She lunged at him with her spear, but he only faded away, cackling horribly. Then the island had begun to shake, and the rocks assaulted them from above. It's a good thing the guardian was around to save us. Thought Hawkeye. He patted the backside of the big reptile affectionately, and it hooted with some pleasure. The beast seemed to be very intelligent, though it could not speak into his mind as the faerie could. The faerie. Wait, she hasn't said anything since the turtle picked us up? With that tongue of hers? He made his way over to Angela and tapped her shoulder. "What? You're in my sun, move." She rolled over onto her backside, making shooing motions with a delicate hand. "Is the faerie still around?" "Yes, she's around. Why?" He slumped to the shell so he was lying down as well, not throwing a shadow over the sunning Sorceress. "I guess I was just worried. It doesn't really matter." Angela propped her head up on her arm, elbow pressed against the turtle's shell. "You? Worried? That's a good one. I've never seen you worried before. What's wrong? Girl troubles?" She laughed. "Not that any of us have time for romance." "What does that have to do with the faerie?" He shaded his eyes from the bright sun with his hands and looked up at the sky. "Nothing. But I know men. When you want to talk about something, you never start off with what you're actually worried about, you bring up something else that isn't as important. So spill it. What's really on your mind?" He spluttered. "What? I wasn't thinking about anything else. I was really worried about the faerie. Is it really that hard to believe?" "Of course you were worried. But you're still tense. Even with all that clothing on, I can tell. That means you've still got a rock in your craw over something. Now either tell me, or I go back to working on my tan, and you can wallow in your own stupidity." He rolled over so that he was facing her, then looked down and started tracing a pattern on the turtle shell. "It's the werewolf. I don't trust him any farther than I could kick him, but part of me tells me that I should." 

Angela reached out and grabbed his hand to stop him from tracing anymore, then lifted his face so he was looking her in the eye. "More. That's still not all of it."

He sighed and turned his eyes to the valkyrie, still brooding on the far side of the guardian turtle. Angela clapped her hands with delight. "I knew it! I just knew it. Well, I think I might have some answers for you. I asked Wisp to look into Prince Kevin's- yes, he's the Beast King's son- background, and he did. The big kid's a pacifist, he wouldn't fight at all if he had a choice in the matter. He's still grieving over his wolf-pup friend's death, though he was not really responsible." She looked over to the beast prince, and smiled. "He's nothing more than a big child. He still has the ideals of a little boy, but he's big enough that he can effect a change based on them. Maybe the Goddess decided it was time that we listened to the little boy in all of us, I don't know. But he's honest as a dwarf, and he seems to love Carlie dearly, for all that they've only just met recently." She clocked him on the head suddenly, and he reeled, taken by surprise by the action. "He loves you, to, you know. He's a very special sort of person; the kind that gives his trust _and_ his love unconditionally. I don't know how he's managed to come out that way, with all the things that have happened to him, but I can see it in his eyes when he looks at each of us. More than anyone else, he knows what this quest means, and he will always be there to help us when we need it, even if we don't think we want him there."

__

"Kevin not a thing! He save Hawkie's life!"

"Sea was eating Hawkie, and Kevin dove down to save him! Hawkie should be thankful!" 

He was perilously close to tears again.

"As for Riesz, she's like the wind. Sometimes she's warm and soft, and sometimes she will rip you to shreds before you can say "Poto". But I think that if you're up for the ride, it'll be worth it." The sorceress reached out and touched his cheek affectionately. "Now let me get back to my sun." And she fell flat on her back and continued her sunbath as though she had not just solved all of Hawkeye's problems with a few sentences.

__

Women… he thought.

:We're almost there, everyone. Get ready.: 

Richard was slumped in his chair, a tawny owl with a white cap of feathers on his head like a bald spot perched above his head.

I'm exhausted. 

"The heroes of Mana, Sire."

The crier screeched out the phrase in a most high-pitched voice, and Richard winced as the doors swung open. In strode six young people, three young men, and three girls. Though their clothes were tattered and ruined, they carried themselves so that every noble they passed bent low to the ground. Richard understood, he recognized the aura from what he remembered of Loki.

Loki walked that way, too. 

At the head of the group was Angela, her head held erect on her straight, comely neck, large gold hoop earrings still in her pointed ears. She wore little more than a loincloth and breastband, but she was regal nonetheless, every inch the princess. She gazed straight into Richard's eyes from the moment she entered the room, and did not kneel before him when the party reached the dais where he sat, as her companions did. When she cleared her throat to speak, the room was silent.

"We have found the Elementals of Wind and Darkness, Richard of Forcena. Now, by the love you hold for the Goddess, you will tell us where to find the final four."

He found himself nodding silently, and stopped himself, straining not to give into her aura of greatness.

I haven't felt this way since Father dressed me down in my thirteenth summer! This girl is very strange. 

The phrases they spoke with were formal, practiced in the manner that only royalty could speak. As he spoke, he weighed every word carefully, knowing that what he said was living history, not because of his actions, but because of the actions this girl and her companions would take in the future.

"Indeed, I promised you the rest of the song when you had found Jinn and Shade. We are glad to see you back in Grasslands Kingdom, Heroes of Mana."

Angela acknowledged the title for herself and her friends with a curt bob of her head. Technically, it was a rude gesture, Richard was still of higher rank than her. But the average Forcenan didn't appreciate technicality, he appreciated power, and Angela was the embodiment of power. Hardly more than naked, she had marched into the room and taken control with nary a complaint from any soul in the room.

__

My daughter, I am very proud. He let a little half smile intrude upon his face, and that took her by surprise. He only knew because he was watching her for it, and only because her lips quirked in exactly the same way that Valda's had whenever she had been displeased with him.

__

"In the lands of flame and fire lies the fire god's unending pyre. Toward the north, the undine stays, and in the ice caves does she pray. Under the blanket of eternal night, the spirit of moon hides the light. Last, in the heart of a wondrous wood, the dryad has ever danced." He ended the song with a heavy sigh, he had not sung for some time. "Salamando, spirit of fire, lies to the southeast, near the Thieves' Guild of Navarre. Undine, spirit of water, keeps the ice caves of Altena frozen. Luna, spirit of the moon, is the nearest, in Beast Kingdom. Finally, Dryad lives in the forest of the elves. I do not know how you will gain entry there, but you must find a way."

Angela turned to look at the smallest member of the group, Charlotte, and made an unexpected move of her own.

"You need not worry, King Richard. I believe we will find a way. Goddess bless and keep you."

She bowed very slightly, then motioned for her companions to stand. Duran looked at Richard from under his lids, but would not meet his eye, and Angela pulled him along with her as she exited the chamber.

She is as formidable as her mother was, maybe more so. __

:Scary thought, isn't it?: asked the owl.

Indeed. 

A/N: I'm sorry this is so short, and so, well, not moving the plot. I hope to do better next time. Sinnatious, I shall catch up! (Oh, you guys think it's bad now, just wait until we get to the God Beasts. XD)

__


	15. Sandstorm

Here be the full version.  Hope everyone enjoys it.   Lady Storm, that thing with Angela was intended, and you'll see why later on.  And to all of you, I love you.  Thanks so much, your comments really make me feel better about my writing.  (You always review on the bad chapters!  :p) 

~Truewind

Sandstorm

Duran yanked his left gauntlet off his hand wearily and set it on the side table that stood next to the couch that held him, Kevin, and Riesz.  The six travelers were arranged in the room, all in various states of anxiousness.  Angela appeared to be completely relaxed; she reclined on a couch of her own facing his across the large dining table.  However, the glances she shot toward the doors and windows at varying intervals betrayed her.  Bathed and shampooed, the Princess of Altena was even more beautiful to Duran than she had been.  Every time he gazed at her, a warm feeling pooled inside of him, giving him strength to combat the weariness and stress that assailed him.  He suspected that everyone in the room had his or her own reason for coming on this quest, but none of them dared question any of the others.

"So where do we go from here?"  He asked, breaking the silence that had hung between them for too long.  Angela blinked, returning from one of her checks.  Hawkeye, who had been standing at the doorway to watch the hall, shut the door and came to sit in one of the chairs at the table.  Predictably, he chose the most uncomfortable one, he'd always done that to Duran's knowledge.  In every inn they had slept at, Hawkeye had slept in the most threadbare bed, sat in the most uncomfortable chair, eaten the poorest food.  Maybe it was a result of the deprivation that the Navarran thieves went through, maybe it was his growing assassin's instincts, Duran did not know.  All he knew was that Hawk had changed.  All of them had changed, were changing.

"We find the other Elementals, of course."  Angela replied, and she sat up straight to look at him.  "It's what we've been trying to do all along, right?  We're half done already, and you know we have to see this thing through."

Carlie bounced up onto an overstuffed chair that was far too large for her and said, "Won't be easy, no it won't."

_:She's__ right.  I can feel the forces of evil growing, a discord in the flow of Mana.  You have all come far, but it will be even more difficult from here on.  I know that you are ready.:_

A big map of Fa'Diel was spread over the surface of the desk, and the faerie alighted on the tan section marked _Navarre_.

_:My__ only question is, how do you intend to go about gathering the Elementals, now?:_

Green, glowing dots appeared in four locations on the map.

_:Altena__, __Beast__Kingdom__, __Elf__Kingdom__ Diorre, and __Navarre__.  The four kingdoms with their Stones intact.  You are only six, you cannot guard all of them at once.  How will you go about your task?:_

"Aren't you supposed to be our advisor?"  Riesz asked.  "Why don't you advise us?"

_:I__ am a being of the Holyland, Riesz, I know nothing of war.  I can tell you where to go, and give you direction, but it is up to you to defend the human realm.:_

"Elves hide from bad men."  Carlie said.  "Elfland won't let bad men come in to steal Stone."

Angela nodded to affirm the little girl's words.  "My mother tried to pierce the spells that the Faerie King laid about the Forest of Wonder, but she never managed it.  It could be that Dryad and her stone will remain safe for a while."

"Okay, so one Stone down.  What about the other three?"  Duran stared pointedly at the map.  "Beast Kingdom isn't far from Forcena, we could get there by foot."

The faerie shook her head, her curly locks waving in a wind that none of the humans felt.  _:The__ seal on the woods there is too powerful.  I don't think that Luna will let you in until you have Salamander and Undine with you, she is very reclusive.:_

In the songs, Undine and Luna were sisters, and Salamander was Luna's lover.  Duran thought that maybe the tales had some truth to them.  "Why those two?"

The faerie gave him a blank stare.  _:The__ reason is personal, Duran.  If the Elementals wish to discuss the matter with you, I'm sure they'll come to you.:_

Duran blushed and pulled back onto the couch, trying to disappear into its soft folds while Angela tittered at him.

"It doesn't really matter why," Riesz observed coolly, "but that does narrow things down even more.  If Luna won't let us in, she's not likely to let anyone else in, right?"

_:That's__ right.  The Moon Spirit is reclusive by nature anyway, I can't see anyone but a Beastman getting inside the forest with so much evil running rampant in the world.:_

Kevin looked troubled for a moment, but did not say anything.

"Then that leaves just Altena and Navarre."  Angela said, still giggling slightly over Duran's mishap.  "Hawk, what do you think we should do?"

She had a plan of course, Angela always had a plan.  But she also always asked the rest of them for their input before she laid things out for them.  Duran liked that about her; strong, but willing to listen.  At least, when the moon wasn't messing with her head.

Hawkeye considered the options for a moment, sketched out the details in his mind, then began to speak softly.  His hands rested in his lap, but one of them would stray to the sheathe at his belt every few words.  Duran found the habit a little disturbing.

"I will take two with me to Navarre, and you will take two to your kingdom, Angela."  He said.  Then, he raised himself out of the chair and returned to his position by the door, leaving them to hash out the details.  Angela nodded, as though this was what she had been thinking of as well.  The faerie also beamed approvingly, which, by the way that her body relaxed suddenly, seemed to comfort Riesz.

"All right then."  Angela pointed to the dot that marked Altena.  "We need to divide our resources evenly so that each team has the right skills to do the job.  I propose that I take Duran and Kevin with me, while Hawk takes Riesz and Carlie.  That way, each team has someone who can heal, and someone who can attack from far away."

Riesz looked scandalized, and Kevin looked distressed.  "I am not going to Navarre."  Said the valkyrie, and Hawkeye ignored the burning glare she sent at his back.  Angela looked as though someone had slapped her for a few moments, but she recovered quickly.  "That's fine.  I'll take you and Duran with me to Altena, and Hawk will take Carlie and Kevin.  That sound good?"  Kevin looked satisfied with that, and if Riesz did not jump for joy, she at least did not scream in protest.  "Then it's settled, let's go to bed.  We'll get moving in the morning."

"Tell me I don't have to get inside that damn cannon again."  Hawkeye whispered to Angela as they shrugged on their clothing the next morning.  "I think I lost a few pounds just sweating the last time, and I'm skinny enough as it is."

She laughed.  "Well, unless you want to climb over Molebear Heights, you're stuck.  I'm taking Booskaboo, you'll have to catch a ship from Vizel.  And that means you'll have to get in "that damn cannon" at least one more time.  Tell you what; I won't pray to the Goddess that you break your neck this time, 'kay?"

He glared at her, and she laughed again.  As they argued back and forth about the logistics of the trip, Hawkeye caught himself looking at Riesz all too often.  She was asleep yet, since none of the others dared wake her.  Once, Duran had tried.  After she rose from the bed with spear in hand, quite ready to impale him, he seemed well discouraged from making further attempts.

"Carlie want breakfast!  Angie-wangie, when does Carlie get breakfast?"

Hawkeye looked down at the small figure who tugged on one of the loose flaps of cloth that fell from Angela's scant clothing.  Carlie was the very picture of childish helplessness at that moment; hair tousled and eyes still half asleep, she was so very cute.

_But also very wise.__  Too wise for her age.  He thought grimly.  He still remembered what she had told him about Kevin, he knew he would never forget.  _Then why can't I get over this feeling?  Memories keep popping into my head every time I see him.  Memories of ___Astoria__…_

Angela bent down on her knees and tugged Carlie's curls into some semblance of order, then led her off to the kitchens for breakfast.  She looked over her shoulder at Hawk as she departed, her eyes shining with amusement.  Hawkeye forced himself to smile back.  When they were gone, he sat down at the table with a soft grunt and began to examine the sleepers.  Duran lay sprawled all over the bed as usual, seeming to barely stay atop it.  He was like a cat, always taking up far too much space than he should.  Riesz slept on her side, with pale, green hair draped attractively over her face in silky locks.  But it was Kevin that Hawkeye was interested in now, so he tore his glance away from the valkyrie and turned his attention to the beastman.

_"Karl!"_

_The sweet face of his wolf pup brother greeted him in his dreams, and he was glad to see him.  Much slobber and playful scratches were administered before Karl seemed to be satisfied, and only then would he sit on the ground.  He looked up at the moon for a moment, not ignoring Karl, but simply admiring its full, round loveliness.  When he turned back to his brother, the pup was gone.  Eyes widening, he swept the woods for signs of Karl, and found nothing.  A distant howl of pain erupted through trees, sliced straight into his heart._

_It seemed like hours that he spent scouring the wood of the __Moonlight__ _Forest___, and he found no sign of his brother pup.  Just as he was beginning to give up, he stumbled into a clearing where he saw a scene that horrified him._

_Karl was there, frothing at the mouth.  Whether it was from fear or anger, he did not know, but it disturbed him to see Karl so.  But what really disturbed him was the creature that was facing off with Karl.  A massive werewolf was swiping at the wolf with carefully precise attacks, seeming to have every intention of killing the wolf._

_But when the werewolf turned to look at him, he saw…_

_Himself._

Hawkeye observed the beastman's sleeping struggle for some time.  Kevin tossed about on his sheets as though he fought an invisible opponent, and did not appear to be winning.  When he shot up from the comforter, eyes wide, Hawkeye was surprised that he did not scream.  Instead, Kevin simply stared around the room, took in the surroundings for a moment, then stepped out of bed and began to put on his clothes as though nothing had happened.

_I have to go through __Navarre__Desert__ with this…this thing?  Goddess save me, do I have the strength?_

Angela, Duran, and Riesz came with them to the courtyard of Forcena Castle.  As he stepped into the cannon, Hawkeye felt his gut begin to twist and squirm.

_Normal people don't have to do this.  Why me?_

_:Normal__ people do it all the time, actually.  Bon Jour set up a nice network of cannons, should be useful in the future.:_

He jumped and slammed his head against the top of the barrel.

_Faerie?___

_:Of__ course.  Careful now, I need you intact so you can get Salamander's aid.:  A mental image of a disappointed faerie face popped into his head._

_Don't you live in Angela's head?_ He asked gruffly.  _Why do you have to bother me?_

_:Angela__ isn't the one I'm worried about, she'll do fine in Altena.  Duran will help her, and she grows closer to Riesz every day.  It's you that I'm worried about.:_

_Worried?  About me?  You're crazy._

He felt the cannon angle upward and was thrust back into Kevin's hard-muscled chest violently.  A light "So sorry 'bout that!" floated in, and Hawkeye growled in response.

_:Oh__, I'm as sane as any faerie who crosses the barrier to the mortal world can be, I assure you.  Sane enough to know that you're not exactly sane yourself.  Why do you hate Kevin so much when he holds no such sentiment toward you?:_

_That's none of your business._

_:Of__ course it's my business, you silly boy!  I'm supposed to guide you, care for you.  Why do you flinch every time you get a good look at Kevin?  Don't make me dig deeper into your mind.:_

Something about her tone made him think she would really do it, so he acquiesced and told her all about his hatred for beastmen; about the terrible feelings that rose inside him every time he looked at one of them.  With every mental word, it seemed more of the poisonous feeling was leeched from his body, until there was only blessed numbness left.__

_:Better__, but still not great.  Your prejudice hinders your judgement.  I'm going to come with you to Navarre.:_

Before he could protest, they were shot out of the cannon, and he swore he saw Riesz glaring at him as he flew away to cries of "Have a nice trip!" and "See you next fall!"

Navarran deserts were torture for those who did not live there, and it was no different for Carlie or Kevin.  Fortunately, the motley pair of huge beastman and tiny enchantress was assisted by two factors in that forbidding place.  Firstly, as heroes chosen by the Mana Goddess, they possessed a preternatural tolerance for pain and discomfort and secondly, they had Hawkeye.  As a native, Hawkeye knew how to navigate the sand dunes with ease, and never seemed to lose his sense of direction, even when the broiling-hot noonday sun burned down overhead.

"How much further Hawkie gonna take us?"  Carlie asked on that first day.

"A couple of hours, is all."  He replied, then continued to walk, hugging his pale mantle closer around his face to keep out the dust that was flying about.  A few moments later he stopped when her heard the sound of soft crying come from behind him.  He turned around and gaped; Carlie was collapsed on the sands, beating her little fists against the grains disconsolately.  Kevin looked up at him, bewildered.

_:She's__ only a child, Hawk.  Two hours is a long time to her.:_

_Well,l__ be damned if I didn't know that!  But she's a Seed, shouldn't she be able to handle it?_

_:You're__ all much younger than we expected, it won't be enough.  You will need to help her.:_

He groaned and marched back to pick up the little girl and place her on his shoulders.  She looked even more comical than usual in her cloak, since it was bunched around her head and made a large lump almost as big as her body.  Carlie fell asleep promptly, and Hawkeye set out to make it to the cave he had in mind before nightfall.  Kevin followed behind uncertainly.

"So cold…"

Duran wrapped his cloak about his body a bit more closely as a stray breeze brought tossed a draft against his back.  He shivered and huddled closer to Riesz on Booskaboo's back.  The valkyrie would normally have smacked him with the butt of her spear for such insolence, but she was cold as well.  Neither of them could understand how Angela was perfectly comfortable in her spare clothing.

"Don't worry, Duran, they'll have warmer clothes in Elrand.  We can buy some there.  Just hang tight until we get there."

For a girl who was heading fast for a home that had exiled her, Angela was certainly very calm.  She stood up, facing down the cold wind as though it was a child who was behaving badly.  "Here, I have an idea." She said, and snapped her fingers.  Jinn promptly appeared beside her, eyes wide at the odd surroundings in which he found himself.  She said a few things to him in Old Fa'Dielish, and he nodded.  The wind spirit floated over to where Duran and Riesz sat and started waving his arms around them in complex gestures.  Duran looked up at Angela, wincing as another cold breeze lashed his cheek.

"What is he doing?"  he asked.

"Weaving the flows of air around you so that no breezes get through.  That should help for a while."

"Thank you." He breathed, and she simply nodded.

Hawkeye prodded the remains of the fire as it died down for the third time that night.  They had made it to the cave, though not without incident.  Several troops of strange duck-men had attacked them on the way, as well as bulettes of various types.

"I could have sworn they weren't that big when I left here."  He said to no one in particular.

"It's the flows of Mana, Hawkeye." Said a deep, rumbling voice.  Hawkeye turned to Kevin, surprised to see that the beastman was still awake.

"You should be sleeping, it's my watch."

Kevin shook his head.  "I can't seem to sleep.  You meant those big rock creatures, right?"

The beastman's eyes were a warm golden brown in the firelight, and shown with intensity.  Obviously, he wanted to talk about something more than bulettes.  But Hawkeye could see uncertainty there as well, Kevin seemed not to have any idea of how to go about broaching whatever subject was on his mind. 

"Yes.  They're called bulettes.  They only live in Navarre, as far as I know.  They've always been big, but not like the ones we saw today.  And the one with gold armor?  I've never seen anything like it."

"The flows of Mana are changing."  Kevin replied.  "It's not really a far stretch to think that it might begin to warp the bodies of creatures as well as their minds."

There seemed to be some significance to that statement that Hawkeye wasn't quite catching, but he did not respond.

"It affects us all, Hawkeye.  When Mana is poisoned, all of Her children are poisoned as well.  Every creature has light and darkness, but when the darkness begins to take hold…"

Hawkeye cut him off with a sudden slash of his hand through the air in front of him.  "What are you suggesting, _beastboy?  That I'm turning evil?  That I hate you because of some perversion of darkness?  Well so sorry to enlighten you, I hated your people far before this all started.  And it won't change."  _Especially after what you lot did to ___Astoria__._

Kevin stumbled back at the vehemence he felt from Hawkeye's words, but he was not about to give up.  He came closer, ignoring the fact that Hawkeye had his hand on his dagger.  "Hawkeye, we all have troubles…"

"What the hell do you know of troubles, you pampered palace brat?"  Hawkeye was shouting now, not caring any longer whether Carlie could sleep or not.  "You spout off your pacifist nonsense with no regard for the people around you!  Do you even know the meaning of _not_ killing?  How can you?  You're a beast, a _thing_, a…a…"

"Monster."  Kevin finished, and Hawkeye's mouth snapped shut.  "You're right, I am."  Pale golden light surrounded Kevin, and he shifted into the form of the werewolf in a fluid moment.  He reached out with a hairy hand to touch Hawkeye's face gently, and the ninja flinched away reflexively.  "Are rabites monsters, Hawkeye?"

Hawkeye kept his lips tightly shut, trying to move away from Kevin surreptitiously.

_Carlie__ slept __through all that?_

"Humor me?"  Kevin asked pleadingly.  Through the thick eyebrows the transformation caused, Hawkeye could see Kevin's warm golden brown eyes shine in the firelight, and something inside of himself drove him to answer.

"No, Mana made them the way they are, they only change because Mana changes."

"Then Mana can make monsters of rabites, then why not beastmen, or even humans?"

"Beastmen started out as monsters."

"Isn't that just your perception of us?  How much do you really know about Beast Kingdom, Hawkeye?"

Kevin was moving closer again, and Hawkeye felt like a blanket of blackness was falling all around him, suffocating his soul.

"I know that you're all murdering bastards."  Hawkeye said desperately.  "That you have no souls…"

"Everything Mana makes is a part of Mana, we are all one soul.  Light and darkness are one.  You and I…"

"Are one…"  Hawkeye breathed.

"HOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUIIIIII!!!!"

Both young men snapped to their feet at the loud sound that echoed through the cave from behind them.  Hawkeye's daggers flew out of their sheathes and Kevin rolled up into a fighting stance, bouncing a bit more quickly than usual.  Eyes adjusted to the darkness, they saw…

"Carlie?"

"Hawkie!  Carlie so cold, why Hawkie let fire go out?  Does Carlie have to do everything for herself around her?"

The little girl made a loud grumbling noise and set about building up a fire with all the skill of a person who camps out more often than she does not.  Kevin and Hawkeye exchanged one look and collapsed from laughter all over each other.

Outside the cave, the moon was full and round and tinted a faint blue.  A tiny figure sat on an outcropping of rock and gazed at the wondrous moon, surrounded by a halo of pale, green light and a whirlwind of sand.  Her wings fluttered in the wind as she sat there peacefully, observing every happening in the cave below through a tiny spell of scrying.

_Good, very good._  She thought, and the sandstorm sang all around her.

Sorry this chapter took so long to churn out, but you all know why.  I'll try to move more quickly with the next one.  I really love this chapter, so I hope you all do too.

Truewind


	16. Frozen Soul

Frozen Soul

"Angela, my armor's so cold I can't get the straps off.  I think the snaps froze shut."

"Oh stop bawling, you lummox, we're almost to town anyway, we can find a nice fireplace for you to get your armor all toasty again."

Even with Angela's wind shield, the air in the snow fields around Elrand was bitingly cold.  Duran and Riesz were dressed in the warmest clothing they could buy, and both wondered how Angela could survive the cold in her skimpy garments.

_How is she not shivering?_ Thought Riesz as she watched Angela forge a way through the snow for them in just her little pointed toe-boots; red ribbons trailing in her wake.  _Even accounting for her residency here, this cold is entirely too bitter for her to be wearing such clothing.  I wouldn't visit a bloody desert_ in that, much less the snowfields of the far north!  And didn't the faerie tell us that it's been getting colder around here?  _She took another look at her friend of many months.  _There is nothing about her physically that I can see preventing the cold from affecting her.__

She hurried a bit forward so that she was within earshot of the princess and asked,

"Angela, aren't _you cold?"_

Angela stood still for a few moments without answering; she was adjusting a few of the flows of Jinn's Mana to protect them all better from the wind.  "I'm fine, Riesz, you should stick close to Duran for warmth."  Riesz pulled a glove off of her hand and reached out to touch her friend's arm.  She winced, Angela was freezing cold.  "You're freezing!"  The sorceress shrugged off Riesz's arm and began to tread through the snow again wordlessly, leaving the valkyrie to stare at her back as she herself continued through the snowfields.

"There aren't many of these left in the desert."  Hawkeye said to Kevin as Carlie drank from the tiny pool of water before them greedily.  "Navarre used to be a tropical rainforest, but you'd never know it."  The ninja's eyes grew dark as he thought on that for a few moments, then he gently pulled Carlie away from the water.  "Don't drink too much Carlie, you'll make yourself sick."

"But Carlie is _thirsty!_" yowled the tiny enchantress.  Hawkeye was firm, however, and knelt to fill his set of water bottles from the trickle of fresh water.

"Mana made this place a desert?"  Kevin asked.

"Not exactly.  It's said that Dryad once had a dalliance with Salamander, and the result of their frolicking was the rainforests of Navarre.  When Dryad left the fire spirit, he became sorrowful, and the forest became this."  He spread his hands to encompass the whole of the arid desert.  "But it's my home, and I love it."

_And I'll be damned before I let Bigieu have it._

Kevin didn't say anything after that, but took his turn at the water thirstily.  When water bottles were full and their thirsts sated, they headed out of the shelter of the oasis into the punishing afternoon sun of the desert.

She took his hand breathlessly and fled down the pathway from the tiny wizards who were assaulting them with great fists of hard, black ice.  Like wind they ran down the hill, through snowdrifts and over them.  Behind her, she was dimly aware of Riesz following in tow, but it was the struggle to make it herself that worried her.  She had had no idea what the Subzeros would be like when Mana went out of control, they seemed almost mad.  The wind howled, _howled_ at her as she ran, railed at every sliver of skin left open to the cold by the thick coat she had bought in Elrand.

_We just have to make it to the caves, that's all.  Once we get to Undine, she'll protect us from the cold, I know she will.  I've never felt cold like this before!_

Tears leaked from their eyes and froze on their faces, their breath turned to frost as they exhaled.  The air was so cold that it was difficult for them to take breath at all in the first place, and there seemed to be no end to the trail that they were taking to the Ice Cavern.

Duran wore a thick brown coat, lined on the inside with fleece, that he had purchased in Elrand.  With the port closed because of the massive icebergs that floated in the harbor, the shopkeeper had been all too eager to sell them all suitable clothing, and at a reduced price.  Angela herself wore a long, white dress with snow fox fur fringes at the neck, on the cuffs, and all about the hem of the bottom.  It had surprised her to find out that the fur did an excellent job of keeping drafts from slipping down her back and up from the bottom, though it took some time to get accustomed to the weight.  Over the dress she wore a snowy white mantle lined with the same fur as the dress.  She had braided her long hair so that she could fit the hood over her head, and the braid dangled out through the front, swaying with every pace she ran.  The valkyrie was dressed in the same man's winter garments as Duran, since she had been far too tall for any of the tiny women's clothing the shopkeeper had been carrying.

They had been traipsing around the Snowfields for hours by then, and it had grown dark before they knew it.

_You'd never know it's spring in Forcena._  Angela thought grimly.  _I know cold, and this isn't it.  This is something else entirely.  I think we might need a new scale to measure this._

They ran over the snow as lightly as they could, but it was deep, and getting deeper.  Soon they were wading through it rather than running on it, and still the fat white flakes of frozen water fell from the dark sky.  At some point along the way, Riesz took a foul step and fell into a drift of snow.  Duran's lips were pressed to a thin, pale line as he helped her out of the snow, and they pressed on without rest.

There was no moon to guide their way, the storm clouds were far too thick, so Angela summoned Wisp to give them light.  She felt swallowed up by the great darkness with only the tiny patch of light for refuge.  It came to be midnight, and they still had not found shelter.  Angela's reserves of energy were beginning to flag, and she could see that the other two were in even worse shape.

_I wish the Faerie was here to tell us how close we were to Undine.  Wait…_

"Wisp?"  Angela called out as they trudged along through the snow.  Duran looked at her strangely but kept walking, his leather gloved hand tight around her own.

_:Yeah__, what?:  asked the friendly Elemental._

"How close are we to Undine?  Can you tell?"

The little spots of blackness that served the light spirit as eyes disappeared as he closed them, apparently reaching out to his cousin through the lines of Mana that connected them.  _:I__ can't, I'm sorry.  The snowstorm is full of anger and sadness, both of them Undine's.  I can't see her signature through all of this muck she calls water Mana, it's like trying to see through mud.:  The dots reappeared, and Wisp somehow managed to convey piteous disappointment at not being able to fulfill Angela's request.  The irony of a godling bearing that particular expression would have made Angela laugh had she possessed the energy.  Instead, only a slight whimper escaped, and the cold wind snatched even that away from her._

The sun was hot and bright above their heads, and there seemed to be a total lack of breeze on the desert surface.  Hawkeye judged it to be near to dusk, but that meant the sunlight burned down on their backs and made their sweat drool down between their shoulder blades.  Carlie had taken up residence on Kevin's back, and was taking a nap as the two youths made their way across the desert.

_I'm surprised we still have liquid in us to sweat at all.  _He thought as he squirmed to get his vest to absorb the latest driblet.  _I don't blame Carlie for wanting to hitch a ride with Kevin, I'd do it too if I could._

It was easier, much easier.  Some of the pain still lingered, and he still flinched sometimes when Kevin got too close, but it was getting better.  Hawkeye tried to get past the lupine features that reminded him so much of the other boy's kin, tried to see the kind boy beneath the dark skin and strange eyes.

"Hawk, are we almost there?"  Kevin puffed.  He readjusted his slumbering burden to a more comfortable position, and she did not even mumble in her sleep.

"I think so."  Replied the ninja.  "It's going to be dark soon, I'm hoping we can make it to the Valley of Flames before sundown."

_Hoping.__  Never thought I would be doing that in my own homeland.  Then, I never thought Jessica would react the way she did that night, either.  A lot of things have been happening lately that I would never have expected._

Riesz's face popped into his mind at that moment, but he pushed the image away, trying not to imagine how she was faring at that moment.  _Probably freezing that pretty arse of hers off._

As it turned out, he was exactly right.

_Damn that Hawk, he's probably all toasty and warm right now._ Thought the valkyrie.  It was still dark out, though she thought that the sun might have risen behind all of those ominous-looking black clouds.  _The wind is so unfriendly here, I miss the breeze from Rolante.  It was always warm, even in winter.  Not like this one.  This wind seem almost angry.  The snow never lets up, there's ice every three feet, and my toes are frozen._

In the midst of her rambling thoughts, she ran into Duran's broad back and stumbled.  She opened her mouth to give him a tongue lashing, but when she looked at the reason he had stopped, her mouth slammed shut so fast she nearly bit her tongue.

_Darkshine__ Knight!_

A man was approaching, huge and looming.  With the sputtering light of the sun from beyond the snowstorm, Riesz could just make out the hulking figure, and shuddered.  Even at a distance, his presence was forbidding and dark.  It had not been bright out before, but the shadows seemed to grow larger and more sinister with every step he took toward them.  Riesz stepped up beside Duran to face him, and Angela came up on the Knight's other side.

"Hold!"  Duran called out.  "Who are you?  What business do you have in the Snowfields?"

The other man just kept coming, silent but for the eerie clank that his armor made, so unlike any other metal that Riesz had ever heard.  The sound formed a strange counterpoint to the howling of the wind, which did not cease to rage for silly humans.

"I said hold!"  Duran shouted, this time much louder. Riesz was rather amazed at how well his voice carried over the wind, she wasn't sure if even she would be able to do it, with all of her training as a leader in battles.  The knight took a threatening step forward, and the figure stopped abruptly.  Before Duran could congratulate himself, though, the man dropped something large and metallic on the snow and turned, disappearing into the shadows.  A voice came into their minds as he departed, weak and somehow familiar.

_:Duran__?  Is that you, Duran?  How I have missed you…:_

Before Riesz could tell why it sounded so familiar, the Darkshine Knight was gone, and they had another problem on their hands.

"Machine Golems!"  Angela cried out, and there they were, rolling out of the huge ball that the Darkshine Knight had dropped.  There were three of them in all, great perversions of machinery shaped like men.  They spun and whirred ominously, and Riesz fell back into her low fighting stance to meet them.  She noticed that Angela did not chant any spells, and frowned for a few moments, but then launched into her strongest attack, the Vacuum Surge Spear.  Muttering a request to Jinn to aid her, she swung her spear around violently before launching it into the air.  A green wind launched itself up to meet the whirling spear and added its power to it.  Great blades of wind launched from the twirling spear in waves, slashed down at her enemy.  Just as the attack finished, and the spear returned to her hand, she heard Angela shout,

"No Riesz!  You can't use magic on them!"

Riesz's brow furrowed, but she thought she understood when she caught sight of the great boulders of ice falling from the dark sky.  She rolled to avoid the glaciers, only to slide into a bonfire and get the life singed out of her.  When she thought it finished, a bolt of lightning dropped from the sky, and she only just dodged that as well.  Duran popped up behind her and doused her with healing magic, but Riesz had learned her lesson, she would not fall so easily.

_Dirty trick, that.  Why do we have these powers if we can't bloody well use them?_

But at least she could fight.  Angela was hard-pressed to keep the golem that came after her at bay with that cane of hers.  Fortunately, once one figured out the golems' weakness, it was relatively easy to dispatch them.  The stupid machines tried to toss more fire and ice at them, but all three of Mana warriors were ready, and dodged the sluggish magic easily.  It wasn't long before only Angela's was left, and she stopped suddenly.  Since the golems were designed to acclimate themselves slowly to their opponent's attack patterns, Angela's stopped, confused for a few moments.  Angela used that time to unload a spell on it.

"Thunderbolt!"  A bolt of lightning, not unlike the one that had assaulted Riesz earlier, slammed down onto the golem's metallic form.  With its protective armor dented and broken by repeated blows from the sorceress' staff, the thing exploded promptly when the lighting hit it, and the debris launched itself harmlessly against Angela's shielding.  When the other girl drew herself up, Riesz grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up.

"Let's go."  Was all the response she got, but she understood.  They still needed to find Undine.

"Oh no…we're too late."

Angela placed a delicate, gloved hand against the cracked Mana Stone of Water, and began to cry.  Duran collapsed to the floor, furious.  "We come all the way through that fucking blizzard and for what?  For a cracked stone and a crybaby water Elemental?"

_:I__ heard that!  You meanie!:_

Riesz sighed.  Seated atop the broken Stone was the Water Elemental, Undine.  Tears rolled out of her big eyes in globules nearly as big as her head, the epitome of injured ego.  "I never thought the Elementals were such an…eclectic bunch."  She said, for lack of anything better to say.

_:You're__ both just big meanies!:  Undine cried, and she floated down from the Stone, sniffling._

"Yeah, that's it."  Riesz commented drolly.  Undine blew a raspberry at her.  "Well, where do we go from here, magical girl?"

"I don't know."  Angela replied through her tears.  Duran snorted.

"Well I do, we go on.  Hawk and the others must've gotten Salamander by now, we're nearly done.  We're also supposed to pick them up from Sultan, so we should get going as soon as possible."

_:The__ storm's stopped, now that I'm done sulking.:  said the water spirit, in a tone much stronger than the one she had been using.  __:My__ apologies for my demeanor, being sealed inside a cave for several hundred years can do that to a body.:  She raised a hand-fin above her head, and suddenly the cold fled them.  Riesz did not feel warm, exactly, but she no longer felt the cold so bitterly.  __:You_ must go, you are the seeds the Goddess has sewn.  We spirits can help you, but we are not beings of free will.  You must walk where no others walk.  You have warmed my frozen soul, let me see what other wonders you are capable of.:__

Author's Note:  Okay, so the ending is cheesy, and I stole the "ignoring the cold" thing from Robert Jordan.  All in all, this chapter moves the plot forward, for once, and that's about all I can say about it.  I hope you all enjoy, and you know I love hearing from you.


	17. Fire Dancing Feet

Fire Dancing Feet

Three grubby travelers stumbled into Deen just as night was falling, and they certainly looked like they had trekked across the desert.  Omar looked them up and down, then again, and finally decided that they looked relatively harmless, then let them pass.  He was surprised to see a native among them, the tall youth with pale green hair and clothes cut from vivid violet cloth that was almost black.  The gate guard saw no weapons on the man's person, but he did not delude himself into thinking he did not carry any  As they passed, the child favored him with a smile fit to melt stone, and the big youth (who went bare breasted and wore pants tattered enough to be called short) hurried, face averted.  Omar wondered why, but did not press.  Dangerous folk, to be sure, but obviously not dangerous to the town.  He tracked them with his eyes until they entered the Inn, and only then wondered at a group of children who had been able to make it all the way across the dreaded Navarre Desert on their own.

_:You have to rest, Hawk.:_ admonished the faerie as she observed the ninja pacing back and forth in the room they had rented for an obscene amount of lucre.  Kevin and Carlie were taking a bath together, innocent as babies, and seemingly the fact that the bath used sand instead of water was no boundary to their play.  The little deity listened for the sound of Hawkeye's footsteps on the floorboards and found that she heard none.

"I know I have to rest, faerie, I'm waiting to use the sand.  Don't know why they even bother with the bath, when we could just go outside and scrub ourselves down as easily."

_:I am not accustomed to the ways of Fa'Diel, but I thought I understood that most people here had some standard of privacy that they wanted to be met when they stayed at an establishment like this one.  That's probably why the owner kept the bath, even though he cannot spare water to fill it.:_

Hawkeye sighed and stopped pacing to sit down in a chair.  The most uncomfortable one in the room, observed the faerie, but she did not say anything for fear of his standing up to pace again.  He made her dizzy when he did that.

"I can't believe the oasis here was drying up, and I didn't even know it.  Why didn't Flamekhan do something about it?"

_:He probably couldn't do anything about it, anymore than the Queen of Reason can prevent the cold from its assault on the kingdom of Altena.  As the balance of Mana is thrown about like some little boy's toy, the earth is inevitably affected.  As the patterns of Mana are disrupted, so are the physical elements that are attached to that Mana.  Besides, even if he could have done something, would he have?:_

The ninja tensed, then glared at her with no small amount of fire in his eyes.  The faerie was rather reminded of Angela in one of her rages.  "Of course he'd have done something, if he knew.  He couldn't have."

_:You can't know that.  He was under Bigieu's control, remember?  He might have known, and never done something about it simply because she did not let it occur to him that it was a problem.  She didn't care about Deen, or Navarre's trading prospects, she was never concerned with making this place a real kingdom.  She just wanted to train her own private army of ninja to help her revive her "Dark Prince".:_

He looked troubled, but she did not say more.  "You're right."  He admitted at last, and she nodded, a bit smugly.

_:Of course I'm right.  I think with my head.  Not that I blame you.  I was just as angry when I found out that Mana was dying.  The Tree was right under my nose, how could I have missed it?!  I bathed in the dew that fell from the Goddess' branches every morning, and I never even noticed when the dew turned to tears.  I understand your frustration, Hawk, but you can't let it devour you.  Riesz left her kingdom in disrepair and chaos to come on this quest, can you do the same with your own?:_

"I can do it."

_:Then you are a better man than I thought you were, Hawkeye of Navarre.:_

"What do you mean, 'The weapon shop's only open at night."?!  You're joking, right?"

Hawkeye leaned forward menacingly and glared at the merchant who stood behind the counter.  The merchant, however, remained utterly composed and calm.

"Yes, that is what I was saying, good sir.  If you wish to purchase arms, I am afraid you will have to wait until dark.  In order to remain open all day and all night, I sleep during the night, and he sleeps during the day.  You will just have to wait until he awakens."

The merchant said all this while dancing around foolishly in the manner that most merchants, especially innkeepers, seemed to have.  Hawkeye drew back smoothly and smiled.  "Then I guess we'll just have to give him a wake up call."

"I wouldn't recommend that…Oh dear."

The dancing merchant sighed as the ninja stalked into the back room, thrusting the door open roughly.  Carlie and Kevin looked at each other, bewildered, and wisely chose to remain behind.  They waited a few moments, and then a piercing shriek cracked through the shop from the back room.  Out of the room sprang Hawkeye, grinning like a fool, a statuette made of silver in one hand.  A golden chamber pot came flying out of the room at his head, but he ducked, and it flew past.

"Knew that no merchant could sleep while his trinkets were disappearing."  Said the ninja as he placed the statuette on the counter in front of the armor merchant.  A livid figure came flying out of the back room, twirling a vicious-looking morning star about his head.  "Who stole my precious statue of the water sprite?  He will paaaay!!!"

"Oh, this?"  Hawkeye replied, pointing at the statue.  "I did.  You can have it back if you sell us weapons."

"And why should I sell weapons to a _thief_?"

The merchant, who was in a nightgown, felt a tug on his sleeve, and he whirled to find a cute little girl with wide eyes staring up at him.  Her lip quivered a little.

"Pwease, Mister?  Carlie and her friends are trying to save Mana, and they need new weapons to do it!"

The merchant melted.  "Oh, how can I resist?  Fine, but don't expect a discount."  He went to the back room to get his clothes, muttering something resembling, "Saving Mana?  Hah!"  Hawkeye just shook his head and pointed out a pair of earrings to the armor merchant, then began haggling the price.  Kevin was bewildered as usual.

_:We're close.:_ observed the faerie.  They had not been traveling more than a day out of Deen, and they were all still relatively fresh.  Some of the gigantic bulettes had somehow acquired gold scales, and had a way of retreating into their shells to avoid attacks, then spring at a body without warning.  Carlie was able to get around that, since the Unicorn Heads she summoned could easily pierce steel with their horns, and the bulette's shells were no where near as hard as good steel.

"How close?"  Kevin asked.

_:Close enough that I can catch some of Salamander's stray thoughts.  What a pervert.  And a shameless pervert, doesn't even put up shields.:_

"Purr-vert?"  Carlie mouthed awkwardly.  "Fire spirit is a purr-vert?  What's purr-vert?"

Hawkeye smiled.  "Never mind, Carlie."

"No one ever tells Carlie anything." The little girl pouted cutely, and the ninja laughed.  His mirth faded though, when they rounded a curve in the hills and came up on the Valley of Flames.  The entrance itself was not troublesome, it was the people who were standing before it that shook him.  There were four, two women and two men, and he knew every one of them.

"Who are those people, Hawkie?"  Carlie asked innocently, and Hawkeye cursed.  The party in front of the entrance whipped around, the one woman dragging the other.

"Bill, and Ben.  And Bigieu.  What are you doing with Jessica?!"  his voice rose against his better judgment, and Bigieu's elegant eyebrow rose to meet her turban.  She was dressed quite tastelessly in pink and blue, as per usual, and that only contributed to the sick combination of disgust and desire Hawkeye felt about her.

"So you've finally gotten here.  Where's that ornery princess of yours?  Is she taking a holiday from the heroine business?  Smart girl, smarter than you are.  Knows how to use her body right, that one."

"Don't you talk about Angela like that."  Hawkeye growled, suddenly defensive.  _Where the hell did that come from?  He didn't have time to seek out the answer, though, because the foul woman went on._

"A trifle.  As for this little wench…" she yanked the rope that held Jessica in line.  The girl was wearing a blue dress so worn and old that it seemed fit to fall off of her at any moment.  That made Hawkeye even angrier.  Most likely Bigieu had not even let her wash or change her clothes the entire time she'd been in jail.

"Hawk!  Run away!  Don't worry about me, just get away!" cried Jessica, but Bigieu slapped her viciously.

"Shut up, you fool girl.  It's not like you're cursed anymore anyway."

Hawkeye scowled.  "You're going to sacrifice her so you can break Salamander's seal."

Bigieu offered only a sadistic smile in answer to that, and motioned toward him.  "Boys, take care of him."

"Yes, Mistress Isabella."

Then she was gone, and the two ninja who had been Hawkeye's best friends began the dark spell that would combine their forms into one.  Grimly, he whipped his daggers out of their sheathes, and would have told his companions to do the same if they had not already been prepared.  Carlie was trying to unbalance Bill and Ben's magic with a counter-chant, and Kevin was crouched and ready to spring.

_:Be careful, Hawk, they're stronger than they were before.  She's infused them with more dark energy, and the Goddess only knows where she got it from.  Certainly not from Shade, he's with Angela right now, and he'd never grant her power if he could help it.:_

_Maybe he couldn't?  _he thought, as he clashed blades with his old friends, fused into one.  Carlie's chant was slowing them down, but he and Kevin would have to injure them considerably before the little enchantress could counter their combined energies fully.

_:What do you mean?:_ asked the faerie, perplexed.  _:Where else would she get dark energy..?:_

She cut herself off.  Both of them knew where the woman had gotten the energy.  She was conducting a war, and wars meant piles of dead.  When people died, they released all of their Mana as their souls flew to the Holyland, or the Underworld respectively.  That Mana was the easiest sort to harvest, since a mage did not have to go through the Elemental pact to get to it.

_She's a demon.  The enemy we face is darkness itself._  He thought back to his dream during the class change, to the massive darkness that had enveloped his eyes, and the sweet scent of the Goddess' flesh.  _I will walk this darkness, dance on these flames, and to the lowest depths of hell with the creatures that try to stop me!_

Kevin smashed the huge ninja hybrid toward him with a powerful fist, and he took the opportunity to rip the creature open from waist to shoulder.  Losing control of the magic, Bill and Ben split apart.  With Carlie able to go on the offensive, the rest of the fight was just cleanup, since not even a ninja could dodge a gremlin that constantly chased after him with a wickedly sharp pitchfork.  As they lay dying, Hawkeye saw light return to their eyes, and they smiled, finally free of Bigieu's control.  Ben mouthed what Hawkeye thought was "Thank you.", before life left his body.  Sending a prayer up for their souls, Hawkeye raced into the flames, toward the fiery dance.

"What do you think, Duran?"  Angela asked her brawny companion as she lounged on Buskaboo's back languidly.  With Undine's aid, the return journey had been easy and free of the bone-chilling cold of Altenan waters.  "Should we go pick them up, or let them catch a ship to one of the merchant towns and take one of the cannons?"

She grinned fiendishly, and Duran rolled his eyes.  "Come on Angie, be nice.  You know Hawk hates those things."

"Of course I know that!  That's why I want to ditch him!"  She cackled, and Duran edged a bit away from her.

"You might not want to do that again, Princess, it's not exactly flattering to your image."

"WHAT?!!"

They found monsters inside, but none so powerful as to give them any trouble.  Bigieu had brought her ninja hordes along, but after Bill and Ben, these seemed more like amateurs than the death-killing machines that Bigieu had trained and magicked them to be.  Hawkeye cut through them at a terrific rate, and Kevin did a similar amount of damage.  Carlie took out a few with magic and flail, depending, but she mostly kept up with the boys' health.  She watched Hawkeye's back with some concern, her healer's instincts on fire with the rage that she thought she felt from him.

_Hawkie__ is mad… she thought, many times along the way.  Sometimes, they were blocked by explosions, presumably the seals that Salamander had placed to prevent humans from venturing too deep into his lair.  At some length, they reached a bridge over the lava, and caught Bigieu struggling with Jessica there._

"Let her go!" screamed the ninja, and he made to rush the woman in the tasteless pink dress.  Bigieu turned to him, grinned ferally, and dragged Jessica around so that she was suspended over the lava, with only her feet and Bigieu's grip keeping her from falling into the fiery deeps.

"Oh, I'll let her go all right, boy."

"You evil whore!"

Bigieu snorted, and let Jessica drop.  Hawkeye's heart leaped into his throat, but the woman caught his lover up just before she fell.

"You'll never succeed, you know.  The Dark Prince will be revived, we've already found him a new body!"

She cackled evilly.  Hawkeye felt something small and sharp whistle past his ear, and it embedded itself in Bigieu's chest.  Startled, her grip on Jessica slackened, and the bandit princess began to slip.  Hawkeye dove for her, and had the horror of knowing that he would never make it in time.  Time slowed and the world narrowed to getting to her, to save her…

_:Goddess give you speed, eye of the hawk.:_

He did not recognize the voice in his mind, but at the same time he did.  It was full of wind and laughter, serious only for that moment.  Wondrously, he felt his arms close about Jessica's form, and he lifted her out of harm's way with strong arms.  His vision cleared, and he saw Bigieu, clutching her chest indignantly.

"Cats should know better!"  she hissed, and Hawkeye realized that Nikita, his old friend, had come to the rescue.  The former merchant hissed right back at the ill-dressed woman.

"I could say the same to you, Kinslayer!"

With a scowl, Bigieu swept out of the room.  Hawkeye wept and kissed Jessica over and over until both of their lips were big from the effort.  Finally, after much mingled salt water, Jessica pressed a weak finger to his mouth and made a soothing coo.

"I'm sorry…for not believing you, Hawk…"

And she promptly fainted.  "Jessica?"  He shook her softly, but she did not wake.  He checked her pulse, it was faint, but regular.  He sighed and stroked her hair.  When he felt the furry paw touch his shoulder, he looked up.  Nikita looked pleased, but anxious.

"Hawk," he said, in that quick, hissing voice of his, "I'll take her back to Deen, it's closest.  You've got a job to do.  Go do it."

_:Please, Hawk?:_

The faerie, who had said nothing throughout the reunion, pleaded to him with such fervor that he sighed and gave Jessica over to Nikita's care.  The cat-man lifted her into his arms neatly and scampered out, quick as only the feline merchants could be.  Kevin offered him a hand, and he accepted it.  Then they moved on. There were only a few rooms left between them and the heart of the Valley, so it took them only a few minutes to get there.  When they arrived, Bigieu was already there, and already cackling crazily.

"Stone ish broked."  Carlie observed sadly, and pointed at the Fire Mana Stone, from which little motes of energy were escaping.  There were fine cracks all over the crystal's surface, and at times Hawkeye fancied he could almost see the creature that dwelt inside.

"You're too late, Hawkie-dearest, as usual!"  Hawkeye wanted to rip out her vocal cords so she couldn't laugh like that anymore.  "It's a pity though.  I meant to use the girl's spirit, but I had to use those bumbling idiots instead.  Oh well, a fitting end.  They died serving their 'Mistress'.  How ironic."

"You shouldn't jest at the dead like that."  Kevin warned, and he stepped forward.  He fell back when Hawkeye thrust a hand out to stop him.  Bigieu began to float up toward to the ceiling, still cackling madly.

"You forget, little wolf, I'm Death's lover!  He won't care if I make fun of his charges!"

And then she was gone.  Hawkeye shook his fist up at the spot where she'd been.  "I'll kill you, I swear it."

"Hawkie…"  Carlie put out a hand to touch his arm, and he found it somehow calming.  He did not notice the shadowy form of the dark Elemental, who hovered behind her and gave her advice.

"WHO RUINED MY STONE?!!!"

A thundering voice rolled over their ears, and Hawkeye winced.  Carlie looked like she'd been slapped, and Kevin's face acquired that characteristic 'confused' look.

"My precious crystal, oh, how I'll miss you.  The times we had together!  The porno's I watched on your surfa…"

_:Just as perverted as ever, Salamander.:_

The faerie's wry voice cut through the thunderous reverie, and Hawkeye was able to make out a tiny, lizard-like wisp of flame with eyes and a spear.

_:Salamander, please use mental speech, you know what our real voices do to mortal ears.:_

_:Apologies, good lady.:_  In Hawkeye's mind, Salamander's voice was softer, but still deep and booming.  _:What brings one of your kind this side of the veil?:_

_:Business, Salamander.  We need your blessings to open the Gate to the Holyland.  Surely you know that Mana is in peril?:_

The faerie did not sound as if she expected the fire Elemental to know how to toast bread.

_:Of course!  Luna sent word to me in the last shipment of fire blooms she sent to me.  Took me a decade to figure that puzzle out.  That old girl and her puzzles.:_

Hawkeye found his jaw dropping as far as his beast-boy companion's.

_:Somehow, I don't think that she would appreciate your calling her "old girl".:_

_:Nonsense, we're old friends!  At any rate, you have my blessings.:_  Hawkeye felt his body grow warm for a few moments, but the feeling subsided momentarily.  _:Now go get that fiend that broke my poor stone.  There's a threesome…:_

_:Enough!:  _The ninja was astounded to see that the faerie was _blushing. :Thank you for your blessings, Lord of Fire.  Let's go, Hawkeye.:_

_:Bring me a present next time you come, okay?:_

"I'm sorry, Hawk, I couldn't protect her like I told you I would.  Bigieu caught me with that spell of hers, just like she did everybody else.  Poor Bill and Ben."

They were in the basement of the Deen Inn.  The shopkeeper was a distant cousin of Jessica's, twice removed, and had been more than willing to put her up for a few days.

"It's all right, Nikita.  The only reason she didn't get me is that she wanted me dead instead of zombified.  You did what you could, and you have my thanks."

The cat-man looked up from Jessica's prone form and smiled slightly.  "You've changed, Hawk.  You're harder, somehow."

Hawkeye blinked.  "Am not."

Nikita's whiskers twitched.  "Oh really?  When's the last time you stole something?"

"Well, I stole that statuette from the weapons merchant last week…"

"Doesn't count."  Kevin called from the table across the room, where he was teaching Carlie how to play stones.  "You gave that back.  And then you bought your knives from him, like a good little merchant."

Hawkeye scowled at the beast-boy.  "When did you find your tongue, Wolfie?"

"Around the same time you forgot how to keep yours in your mouth."

Hawkeye could only growl in response to that, and Nikita chuckled.  "She won't wake up for a while, Hawk.  I'll take care of her.  You go save the world."

"You're sure."

"I'm sure.  I'll do a better job this time."

And the look in those strange eyes with their vertical pupils told Hawkeye that he would.

Author's Note:  I'm so sorry!  I got caught up with Fire Emblem, and this fanfic got neglected.  I promise I'm going to finish it!  I vow never to let my fanfic leave the first page again!  :pompous face:  Now read, my lovelies!  Read and enjoy!  And wonder why the hell Nikita said what he said, and why the writer is so evil to you!   Hey Sinnatious, I finally did a "good" ending for a chapter that wasn't 'Everyone fell asleep'. XD  Oh, and the trailer for Xenosaga Episode 2 roxxors, watch it.  I love Yuki Kajiura's music.  8-8


	18. Evernight

Evernight

"WHAT?! Get away from me, you twisted little lizard!"

Kevin gazed forlornly at the statue that blocked the way into his homeland. It was huge, standing at least twice his height, and composed of solid stone that was carved so perfectly that it could only have been done by magic.

_:Luna's__ work, looks like.:_ the faerie told him, trying to console him, no doubt. He sighed. She floated at his shoulder, using him as an excuse to be away from Angela, who was fending off the dubious advances of a deprived fire elemental. _:It__ isn't your fault that we can't get in. If an Elemental doesn't want you somewhere, you don't get in, and that's the end of it.:_

"Not that." He mumbled to her. A feeling he could not quite put into words lingered in his mind, evading articulation nimbly. He wanted to see his old friends again; Olgath, who was old enough to be Kevin's father's father, who sat in a rocker before the fireplace, and told stories to the children. Pieta, a little boy who was still too young to have developed the characteristic contempt for humans that all beastmen held. Even Else, the slightly crazy lady who made him very nervous, and not because she was crazy. They'd rejected him, and yet he missed them. After he'd come back from the wilds with his brother Karl, he'd lived for five years with them, they were what he knew. He had never really been happy, not in a place where men killed each other openly to obtain more power, but he still missed it. He might despise it theoretically, but it was still home.

Deathjester, he'd changed all that. Kevin had watched the spineless man slowly wind his father about that skinny little pinkie of his, and hated every moment of it. Deathjester offered fame and power through violence, both of the things the Beast King desired, and by his preferred method. In the months that followed the arrival of the clown, Kevin found himself further alienated from his people. What few friends he'd had before the man came began to avoid him, fearing the king's wrath should they fall into the displeasure of his favorite minion.

_But not Karl._ Kevin though. _Karl was always loyal, always a true friend. Then, Deathjester took him from me, too._

He hated the man, but it was against his nature to hate. He struggled with the unfamiliar emotion, ignoring the fight that exploded between Hawkeye and Riesz over the manner with which they might get past the statue. The faerie floated nearby his head, gazing at him concernedly.

_:Kevin__? Do you have any idea of how to get through here?:_ she asked him, then retreating from his mind when he lashed out mentally; the equivalent of a spiritual bite. The anger bubbled up within him, and he lashed out physically with a strength to match that of his mind. His fist crunched into the stone statue, then through it, almost as though it had not been there. The barrier it had been maintaining across the entrance to Mintos dissolved as it crumbled to the ground, and Kevin removed his fist, amazed. He turned back to his friends, and saw that Hawkeye and Riesz were staring at him with almost identical expressions of surprise. Duran looked impressed, and Angela was too busy smacking Salamander with her cane to even notice that anything had happened.

"Kevy-poo did it! He brokeded the wall down!" Carlie gushed, bouncing up and down on the sand, her ridiculous hat jingling. Hawkeye and Riesz noticed each other staring, and whipped around so that their backs were facing each other.

"That was fugging awesome, Kev!" Duran exclaimed. He meandered up to the pile of rubble that had once been a statue, thumbs through the loops of his belt. "How'd you do it? Can you teach me? No, I guess not, it's probably one of those things they teach you at home. Still, you knocked through that fucker like it was a candy cane!"

_:Oh, that's perfect, Baby. Get yourself a candy cane and beat me with it, it'll be HOT and SWEET!!!!:_

"All right, that's it, ICE SMASH!"

Kevin gazed down the trail that led to Beast Kingdom, noting the huge, clawed footprints that indicated the presence of his people. For a long moment, it was all he could do not to sprint down the path and bang on the gates until they let him back in.

"Whatcha lookin' at Kevy?" Carlie asked, bouncing on his shoulders energetically. "Faerie lady said we should hurry, 'member?"

Kevin grinned toothily and snapped out of his reverie.

"Oi, mate!" Duran called from down the left fork. "Get your wolfie arse up here, we don't have all day!"

"It's night time, you dolt!" Angela screeched shrilly. "Leave the kid alone, we kept quiet for you in Forcena!"

"That's not how I remember it…"

Kevin chuckled and turned away from the path to Beast Kingdom, choosing instead the path that led to his friends. Carlie played air drums on his head with her little fists as he ran, but he didn't mind. At least not much.

"Coming!" He shouted gruffly, and Duran gave an answering shout to show he'd heard. None of the six of them noticed the dark figure trailing them through the trees, and their shared laughter masked the soft clank of a big man's armor.

"Which did you choose, Kevin?" Riesz asked as she fended off the blows of a crazed werewolf with her spear. Purchased in Mintos, the weapon was forged of mythril silver, a metal that could only be melted to liquid form at night. Ordinarily, such a weapon would be practically priceless, and was so outside of the Midnight Village. However with deposits easily obtained in the nearby mountains, as well as the constant night provided by Luna, the local blacksmiths had given her a fair price for the weapon. It was ideal for fighting against werewolves, since it left terrible burns wherever it touched their skin.

"What do you mean?" he asked, punching a nearby bat out of the air. The giant bats of Beast Kingdom were legendary for their terrible tempers, and Mana's decline had certainly not improved their demeanor.

"Light, or Darkness?" pressed the valkyrie. "Charlotte summons fiends from below, and Shade follows her like a lost rabite; her choice is obvious." Smoothly she slashed the deranged lycanthrope through the gut, flowing easily into a mercy stroke across the neck. She drew back, standing the spear on its haft, and produced a cloth from her pouch, with which she cleaned her silvery blade. Kevin made sure that the bat would not be coming after them and released the half of himself that was wolf.

"It's not that simple, Riesz." He told her. Her answer was a scoff.

"Of course it isn't simple. Not many people class change anymore, and there's good reason. But that's no reason to balk in telling me. If we're going to be traveling together, fighting the darkness together, we'll need to know what we can do."

Kevin sighed. "We're getting behind."

"Then talk as we walk." Riesz replied, not to be deterred from her purpose. She strode off willfully, leaving Kevin to trail along reluctantly in her wake. They moved in silence for a time, but Riesz quickly grew impatient with him. "Oh! Don't walk around behind me like a sick puppy! I won't bite, not so long as you stop being a muley little boy." She slowed a bit until they were walking shoulder to shoulder and matched her pace to his. "Well?"

Kevin sighed and relented. "Carlie and I, we must have made it to the Stone before you all. She touched it first, even though I told her not to. It gave me mixed feelings, like it was good and bad at the same time."

"Most of the Goddess' creations have both good and evil in them, Kevin." Riesz told him, frowning. He shook his head.

"I know that. But this was different from what you might find in a human, not the occasional vice or crime. It was like the stone contained everything good and everything bad that had ever happened, that ever _could_ happen, just ready to be tapped. I wasn't sure I wanted anything to do with it, but before I knew it, Carlie had made her choice, and I was stepping forward to touch it myself. Something pulled me forward, even though I didn't really want to go."

Riesz's frown grew deeper, and her eyebrows knitted themselves together. "It sounds like you weren't ready. That's strange. All of the legends say that the Stone rejected those it didn't think were ready."

They rounded a corner and caught the sound of Duran and Angela arguing, at the top of their lungs as usual. Kevin did not strain his ears to hear what they were fighting over; their banter tended to be meaningless and nearly ever-present. "I think I only thought I wasn't ready. The Stone gave me a vision…"

"That happened with the rest of us, too." Riesz interjected. Kevin frowned at her, and she quieted quickly.

"I don't much want to talk about the vision; something tells me we aren't supposed to discuss them with anyone but ourselves. But there was a choice, one that I didn't really want to make."

He massaged his temples, careful not to stick himself in the head with his claws. Riesz did not say anything for a long time, but slowed her pace enough that it would be a while before they caught up to the others. When she finally spoke, it was with a calm, clear voice that reminded Kevin startlingly of rapture.

"My choice was easy. I was born in light, and raised in it." She sighed breathlessly. "It is really that difficult to tell me?"

Grinding his teeth, he summoned up his courage and let it bubble out through his mouth. "I chose the light, too." He said simply. "Maybe I was tired of living in the dark."

"Maybe." Riesz replied noncommittally.

They prayed at the statue of the Goddess for some time before moving on into the clearing in the trees that marked the foot of Luna's tower. Kneeling with one knee in that circle of peace where the night seemed less dark, Kevin tried to come to terms with his new place in the world. For some time, he had been rejecting the magic that came to him through his bond to Wisp, the aspects of the monk that he did not think himself ready to adopt. It was easy enough to hide the fact that he could do magic at all from the others; Carlie and Duran did what he could do a hundred times better, so he let them do it. Wisp seemed disinclined to inform anyone else, even Angela, and beyond the initial teaching of the cantrip to heal minor wounds, never badgered Kevin into practicing. When Angela called them all out of their various forms of worship (though Kevin noticed that Hawkeye had been standing watch, not praying), Kevin rose fluidly to his feet. Something made him head into the clearing first, a vague pulling sensation that he could not pin down. The others did not seem to mind, so he entered, and suppressed a snarl at what he saw.

A man, or some gross parody close enough to be recognizable, was feeding on some sort of raw meat that Kevin could not identify at first. He, or it, Kevin was never quite certain which, was somehow squat and skinny at once, and wore a hideous jumper of purple with a four-pointed jester's cap. As the beast boy moved in closer, his eyes, sharp even at night, caught the image of a conical blue hat with a wide brim lying on the ground next to where disgusting noises of flesh being torn and devoured emanated from. Kevin nearly lost his lunch as he realized that the hat must belong to an Altenan soldier, for that meant the body the Deathjester was eating was human. Forcing down bile, Kevin padded closer silently, or so he thought.

"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt someone while they're eating?" queried a sickly, contemptuous tenor voice. It was so high pitched as to be on the verge of soprano, on the edge between the two ranges indeterminately so that it sounded only vaguely male. "Really now, I've met dogs with better manners than you, _Prince_."

That last was said with mocking emphasis, and Deathjester rose from the corpse, arms swinging bonelessly. Kevin snarled.

"You killed Karl."

Grinning insanely, Deathjester cocked his head to one side, and bells tinkled as his hat swung around to the other side of his head. "I did. That little wolf's soul was particularly tasty, I must say. Innocence tastes just like chicken, did you hear?"

The wolf inside him leaped forth, and Kevin found his nails turning to claws as he swept across the clearing to the thing in man's clothing. Pure animal rage drove him, there was no thought or caution, and when the blast of cold air smashed into him, he was totally unprepared. Lifted clear off of his feet and blown into a nearby tree, Kevin felt a nauseating cold spread all over his body. The wolf retreated into a tiny niche of his mind, whimpering, and when he tried to move, he found that he could not. Even his lips would not part for speech.

"And now, _Prince_, I will devour your soul. I am told that it is a particularly painful experience, thought the gibbering wisp of ghost that told me so was probably not a very good source for me to quote. He wasn't precisely sensible when I asked him, down in Hell. Eternal damnation, and all that."

Deathjester took a step toward him, and every scrap of courage he had left him. The cold swept into the gap, seizing total control of his body, prying his eyelids open and holding them that way, so that he could not even blink. "Yes, I think you will make an excellent appetizer."

"Bad man took Heathie away." Said a quiet, even voice. Kevin could not see, but he recognized the voice. There was no real way to tell what had kept Carlie and the others, but he was relieved to hear the little girl's voice. Deathjester stopped mid-step, grinned at Kevin, and pivoted to set down the foot that he had lifted.

"Well now, I wouldn't say that, little girl." He said, voice dipping down into a soothing baritone that made Kevin want to sick up. "Your "Heathie", as you say, is doubtless enjoying the company of our Master just this moment, and would not leave for sheer adoration. I know I would not be here, chasing down you silly children, if I could avoid it. To be honest, I think that "Heathie" is the luckier of the two of us." He bounced from one foot to the other comically. Carlie did not laugh. Kevin could just make her out beyond Deathjester, it was impossible to see if anyone else had made it in yet.

"Bad man give Heathie back!" There was a flash of golden light, and Deathjester took a step back, flinching.

"Is that your best? Well, let me show you the right way to do it…"

"Allow me."

Kevin would have jumped up at the sound of the new voice, but of course, could not. Deathjester's confidence crumbled, and he simpered shamelessly.

"Yes of course, Lugar, anything you like. I'll…just go check on the Stone."

"You do that." Lugar spat. Kevin could see the beastman's furry ankles, exposed by the pants he wore gathered just below his knee. Kevin was heartened to hear that note of contempt in Lugar's voice, but the sneer Deathjester gave him as he bounced up to the tower gate told him that the creature intended much the same for Lugar. The gate swung shut behind Deathjester audibly, and Lugar turned to face Kevin's friends, ignoring Kevin as though he did not exist.

"I will be your opponent." Said the beastman. "My name is Lugar."

"Your name's gonna be Shitface when I'm done with you!" Duran growled.

"There won't be enough left of him to name, more like." Angela added. Kevin could almost see Riesz nod with satisfaction.

"Very well." Lugar said, voice still calm. "You are arrogant to carrying the honor of the prince of my people. All right then." A flash of light Kevin recognized as a transformation into full werewolf form. "Come."

And so they did. A dagger sprouted in Lugar's back, one of Hawkeye's, though Kevin could not really see very well to tell from the angle he was looking. A string of white spheres lashed at Lugar, encircled him, and sliced into him, but he growled, and they broke apart. That was all that Kevin saw before the fighting moved out of his view; he still could not move for the life of him, though his courage had returned.

"Rain, rain, come today, wash all Kevy's hurt away."

Warm water seemed to rush all over his skin, erasing the traces of Deathjester's spell. Almost immediately, Kevin was able to sit up, and he found Carlie leaning over him, worry in her large, round eyes.

"Kevy all right?" she asked. He nodded, and she rose from her knees. Oddly, Kevin found that her head was even with his that way. She pressed little lips together and glanced at the battle at the other end of the clearing.

"Come on." Kevin said, as he rolled to his feet. "Let's go help our friends."

"The purest light for unclean souls." Angela muttered, weaving her hands around a pool of golden light. "A golden bell for the dead tolls." The light snapped into a triangle with three equal sides. "A bright-eyed herald for darkened shoals, be all your sins forgiven." Magical energy fought at the confines she had defined for it, but she would not loose it until she knew it would not hit her friends. It was said that the Saint's Beam, the highest level of light magic a spell caster could obtain, drew its power from the martyrs and saints from times long past. Some called it Shendi's Fire, for the High Priest of Light who had died defending the city dedicated to his element more than a thousand years before. Angela did not really care where the extra strength came from; she just wanted to use it.

Lugar danced around Hawkeye's dagger strikes as though the ninja was not one of the fastest men ever to walk Fa'Diel, slapped aside Riesz's slashes with her spear like she was a kitchen wife with a broom, and practically ignored Duran's slower sword strokes. Burdened with his shield, Duran just could not move quickly enough to keep up, and was relegated mostly to healing. Angela's heart leaped into her throat as Lugar grasped Hawkeye, the lightest of the trio attacking him, tight about the waist and leaped into the air, coming down hard in a suplex that would have snapped any man's neck. Angela cried out, but she saw the opportunity to let her magic do its work, and seized it, forcing thoughts of her friend from her mind.

"Saint Beam!" she shrieked, emotions blasting through even if she would not let thoughts, and a lance of pure light erupted from the glowing triangle entrapped by her fingers and her will. It caught Lugar in the back as he tried flip up to his feet from the ground, smashing him a few paces away and to the ground on his belly. In moments he was back onto his feet, rolling into a lunging punch at Angela that took her completely by surprise. She gave a shout and tried to swing her staff up to block him, but she was too slow, and the beastman moved across the ground like he was flying. The attack hit her squarely between her breasts, knocking wind and blood out of her mouth with its force. She went down like a sack of radishes, only to watch him fly over her, spring boarding off of her stomach into a flying kick toward Riesz. Silently, as blackness swarmed in to block her vision, Angela prayed that Riesz would be faster…

And quite suddenly, was sitting up again, eyes blinking as the world returned to focus. She still felt death's cold, slimy fingers all about her, and shivered, but she was alive. She looked down, her leotard was ruined. Lugar's punch must have driven into her with killing force; she could still feel his hairy fist slamming into her chest. The healing had not been perfect, her cleavage was a mass of bruises, but she was alive. Bless the Goddess, she was _alive_. She looked up, intending to thank Carlie for the healing, and caught sight of Kevin's form, altered by his werewolf blood, bounding away from her and into the fray. Her eyes bulged.

_Kevin knows healing magic? Wisp never told me... But if he healed me, what is Carlie doing?_

She got to her feet, leaning on her staff for support, and found Carlie standing sturdily just finger lengths from the fight, enveloped in an ominous blue glow. Dark chanting in light soprano fled from the little girl's lips as she spat out the words of a treaty with the Underworld. Angela did not know much of the evil language used by demons and imps and their ilk, but she knew enough to understand that this was no ordinary pact. She was glad to see that Hawkeye was back in the battle, his daggers flashing about as quickly as ever. Riesz had a determined look, and Angela noticed that every time Lugar shifted his attention from herself to the ninja, Riesz would interpose her body, quick as lightning, and take the hit instead. As Angela was trying to figure out how in the world one man could fight four at once, since Kevin had joined in to support the others, reality split. There was no other word for it. Half of her screamed, while the other half just stared at Lugar, whose body strained upward toward the full moon with every fabric and sinew of his flesh. Half of her heard words in the same language Carlie had been using just moments before, only in a deep, hissing voice that was somehow reminiscent of black ice, while half of her heard only total silence as she had never experienced. Three agonized breaths, and it was over. Reality reasserted itself, and Angela went crashing to the ground with her staff beneath her.

"_Zer__ kal raize tun vetz!_"

Angela lifted her head slightly and shook it to get the blood out of her eyes. From where she lay slumped, prostrate upon the grassy ground, she could see Carlie as she kneeled in the green and finished her incantation. For a long moment, nothing happened, and Lugar swept Carlie aside with a brawny arm. Or tried to. Somehow, when his arm met the blue field that enveloped the little enchantress, he was caught and bound where he stood. Long, thick tendrils of dark magic lashed out from Carlie's form, grasping and groping and holding him exactly where she wished him to be. Angela looked at the girl's eyes, and saw that they glowed with blue fire; she had given herself entirely over to the Underworld. For the moment, Charlotte was a portal into the dark planes that lurked beneath the earth, and Angela shivered. Those dark places had nearly taken her twice, and spat her back out at the calling of a friend. Cackling voices that sounded like the deformed shouts of small children serenaded the sorceress as she slumped and fell into unconsciousness.

Wave after wave of tiny creatures with poisoned spears stabbed into Lugar with demonic viciousness. Those points were deadly needles, made mercilessly of some dark equivalent of mythril that burned inside of his flesh wherever it pierced him, and it pierced him nearly everywhere. Lugar howled, shamed and frightened and hopeless, and thought that this torture would never cease.

Kevin still reeled from his encounter with the legendary Seiryuu Death Fist (and where in Mana had Lugar learned that?), but maintained much more coherence than the inert sorceress. As he watched Carlie, something inside of him curled up and wept, though no tears fell from his eyes. Lugar's screams cut him as the spears of the gremlins cut, and though nausea and bruises warred with each other to smash him to the ground, somehow he forced himself to stand, to walk. Charlotte's eyes still flashed blue, but her mouth, normally smiling, was fixed in a pained grimace that would have left wrinkles on an older woman. Kevin made his slow, agonized way over her, stepped over Riesz's prone form, and made reached out to the medium.

"Carlie." He forced the name out through lips cracked and bleeding. "Carlie, come back. Come back to us. Come back to your friends."

His voice was caught and snatched away by the amalgamated cacophony composed of Lugar's screaming and the gremlin's horrible singing. Yet Kevin saw Carlie shake her head, almost imperceptibly, and that gave him the strength to clear the rest of the distance between them. Gently, he wrapped his arms around her midriff and called out again. "Carlie."

Azure flames licked at his arms, but did not burn him. Death's fire was cold, not hot, just as everything else related to death was. "Carlie." Kevin whispered one last time, and slumped against her. Abruptly, the light in her eyes died, and the flames around her dissolved into gray ash, and then not even that remained. Lugar fell, and she stared down at his mangled form, bewildered for a moment. Then, her eyes narrowed, and she struggled to her feet. Kevin could hardly move, not even enough to resist a girl half his size.

"Bad man took Heathie. Now Carlie will take Heathie back, and bad man can't do nothing about it."

Lugar's only response was to cough up blood. Carlie stalked away to the gate, where she stood, hands on her hips, glaring at it as though that would get it to open for her. Kevin pushed himself to his knees and crawled over to Lugar, then tried to summon Wisp. The Light Elemental appeared, but his "eyes" were narrowed to tiny dots, and he somehow managed to look dejected.

_:I'm__ sorry, Kevin, he is beyond even me. I can't save him, not after…not after what Charlotte did to him.:_

"Kevin, son of the Beast King. Noble, talented, _soft_ Prince Kevin. How I hated you."

Kevin's eyes shot over to Lugar, who coughed again and laughed. "Oh, don't look so surprised. You were the Prince, the Beast King's own brood, and the only one in the litter, to boot. You should have been great. But no, you had to be a…" He coughed bitterly. "A pacifist. I should have had your place; I would have brought the beastmen to such glory as has never been seen on Fa'Diel."

"Lugar…" Kevin stammered, but Lugar was on his last breaths, and he rode over anything Kevin might have said ruthlessly.

"Shut up, dog. I envied you your place in life, and hated you for wasting it. Yet what could I do, without a drop of noble blood in my veins. So I trained, every day, harder than you ever did, and grew strong. I rose through the ranks, hoping to one day get a chance to kill you. But even then, after all that, I couldn't win. Damn you. Damn you and your peace."

The beast man shuddered, and grew still. Wisp melted into shadow as Kevin fell over Lugar's tattered breast, letting his tears fall. "No, Lugar." He wept. "We should have been friends. Don't die. Please don't die."

With a howl, he sent a prayer storming through the woods, to any who might listen, begging for life where there should be death.

Black armor rattled as the Darkshine Knight fell to the ground, stricken helpless by the elemental shriek that slashed through the forest. He struggled to regain his footing, but it was all he could do to wait it out, until it finally stopped, and even then, he lay prone on the ground for some time after it passed.

_:You__ have very strong lungs, child.:_

Kevin did not raise his head. He knew who was before him, even without the gentle yellow glow suffusing the clearing.

"He's dead." He told Luna bitterly.

_:Actually__, I may have some say in that matter.:_

The glow grew brighter, then focused on Lugar, filled the cooling body in Kevin's arms. Then, quite suddenly, Kevin was holding nothing. He searched the clearing frantically until the brave squalling of a newborn drew his attention to the ground. He stared; the baby crawling about on the ground had Lugar's eyes. "How?" he murmured. Luna was all too happy to oblige with an explanation.

_:I__ am Mistress of Change, child. I could only bring him back in the form of a babe, for he had lost too much of himself in his tousle with Charlotte. Still, I am quite powerful in my own, quiet way, and this is my domain. Lugar was of my chosen people, as you yourself are, though Wisp appears to have staked some claim on you as well. I suppose that is well, we are both of light, though his taste and sense of moderation are staggeringly lacking.:_

_:Hey__!: _Wisp retorted, apparently not quite gone. _:I__ resent that!:_

_:Of__ course you do, dear.: _Luna replied patiently. _:Now__ run along and enlighten one of your followers, will you? I have some business to attend to. Unless you want to be around for the giving of my blessing…:_

Since Elementals were forbidden to see the rituals of their fellows, Wisp quite abruptly was gone at that remark.

_:Hmph__. Impertinent fellow.: _Luna grumbled. _:Now__, let's see what I can do about guarding my Stone, if that crazed lunatic hasn't broken it already. I spent a good century on the charm keeping this forest pleasantly dark, and if he messed it up, I swear I'll do something drastic.:_ She paused. _:I__ just have to remember what it is first.:_

Author's Note: Apologies for the agonizing slowness. No excuse. Next chapter should come out more quickly.

Truewind


	19. Alfrdaughter

Alfrdaughter: Part I

Once Luna had taken the flowers at the entrance, Angela had dared to hope that their entry into the forest of the elves would be unhindered.  After the forest of night, this one seemed innocuous enough, though the trees were exotic beings that, despite never shedding their leaves, were nothing like the steadfast evergreens she remembered from her homeland.  These trees were wild, growing almost up to the shoreline in their anxious desire to expand the forest.  Angela knew what drove them; it was the madness that was enveloping all of Fa'Diel.  She studied them, the corruption was of academic interest to a mage who wondered about the inner workings of the world, but the answer for the trees' fervent growth came from an unexpected source.

She had asked the faerie about the situation, a being of Mana could be expected to understand such matters, but the little winged woman was unhelpful.

_:Dryad__ is here, Angela.:  _The faerie told her.  _:But__ she is very weak, almost as weak as Shade was after so many years imprisoned on that ship.  I don't even want to think about what could have drained her, she has always been the most energetic, the most powerful of the Elementals.  Still, even limited, she should be able to keep the forest under control.  That she has not bodes ill for us, but I can't tell you why.:_

Angela could understand where the miniature deity was coming from; the idea of something that could devastate the spirit of Wood, the Goddess' own messenger and emissary to the living world, was hard to wrap her own mind around.  Yet it was something that she had to do.  While she speculated, leaning on her staff, she noticed that Carlie kept peering into the forest, then whipping her eyes back to the shoreline as though afraid.

"Carlie?"  She called, and the little girl bounded over to her, all bouncing curls and bells.  It was disturbing that the girl wore the same sort of bells that the man Kevin called Deathjester had worn, but that was just another strange thing in a long series of strange things Angela had to learn to accept.

"Yeah, Angie, whatcha want?"  Carlie gushed.  The girl was good at concealing her mood, which was surprising when one considered her age, but Angela had been traveling with her for some time, and could see the tiny frown that threatened Carlie's ever-present grin.

"Do you know what's wrong with the forest?"  Angela asked quietly.  Carlie shrank back, glancing nervously at the forest and back again.

"Maybe."  She replied.

"Could you tell me what it is?"

Carlie bit her lip.  "It feels like…It feels like something is eating the trees, Angie.  Carlie is afraid!"

Angela patted the little girl on the head, even as she discovered her own knees were growing weak from fear.  _Eating the trees?_ She thought.  _What eats trees?  Weeds?  Why would Carlie be afraid of a weed?  Unless…_  Her thoughts went back to the animated mushrooms that had populated the Cave of Waterfalls and Rabite Forest, back near Jad.  She picked Carlie up, still making soothing noises, and went over to where Hawkeye was standing guard.  Oddly, Riesz had joined him; both of them stood at the edge of the forest, making an attempt to ignore each other and, to Angela's critical eye, failing miserably.

"We have a problem."  She told them, and they glanced at each other before remembering they weren't supposed to be speaking.  Angela was fed up.  "You two stop that!  I don't care what sort of bad blood there is between you, but it's not helping the mission, and it's certainly making things uncomfortable.  Carlie and Kevin are hard enough to keep track of.  I thought I could count on the two of you."

She gave them her best princess' grimace.  Hawkeye looked up at the stars, while Riesz planted her feet stubbornly and glared back.  After all, she was a princess as well.  "Now you see here, hussy."  She barked.  "I don't know where you get off ordering me around, but you can stow it back in that sweet little head of yours where it belongs.  I'm not talking to that bastard _because_ he's a bastard.  I don't even know why he's here, he certainly doesn't follow the path of the light."

Hawkeye shifted uncomfortably, and Angela's cheeks burned.  Carlie gaped at Riesz from Angela's arms.  "Hussy?  You just called me…"  She Riesz's words numbly.  Setting Carlie down on the ground with exaggerated care, she stalked over to the larger girl, grabbed her hair and yanked.  Shock and pain registered on the valkyrie's face, but she responded viciously, smashing Angela to the ground.  Unfortunately for her, Angela had her hands firmly entangled, and brought Riesz down with her.

Riesz was a savage woman, but Angela had all the tenacity of ice, and they fought like two angry eagles who got too near each other's nests.  Hawkeye, reluctant to get involved in a fight between two women, especially two women who he traveled with, did his noble best to ignore them, but their screams and shrieks brought Duran and Kevin running.  They found Angela and Riesz rolling around on the ground, so entangled it was difficult to tell where the one began and the other ended.  Carlie stared at them, perplexed by their behavior.

Unlike Hawkeye, Kevin and Duran had no sensibilities about breaking up catfights, and they were big enough not to take too much harm.  Duran knelt close to the ground and neatly plucked Angela off of Riesz, using a pressure point to make her let go.  Kevin did nothing so fancy; he just sat on Riesz until she stopped struggling.

"What…"  Duran puffed as he wrestled with a furious Angela.  "The hell…"  She landed a blow with her open hand on his face that made his skull ring.  "Is wrong with you?!"  He managed to pin her against the ground, smothering her with his superior size.

_:Are__ you quite done?:_  The faerie said into her head, and she slumped, all the resistance seeping out of her.  There, under the stars, sand in her hair and a week's worth of Duran's sweat making her gag, Princess Angela of Altena began to laugh.

_Well, at least we got our vengeance._  Angela thought to herself as she set one of the nasty, creeping bugs that seemed to be everywhere in the Lampflower Forest on fire.  The smell of roasted insect was unpleasant, but she had the image of a wetted Duran before her to soothe her temper.  After breathing in the man's fetid odor, Angela had resolved to give him a bath on the spot.  Their fight over, she and Riesz banded together, with Carlie in tow, to ensnare Duran (and Kevin as well, as Riesz had confessed the wolf boy was not exactly rose perfume himself) in a trap.

Carlie had served as wonderful bait.  Kevin saw her as a playmate and Duran as a younger sister to be spoiled.  So, when she had asked them to help her build a sandcastle (at Angela's instigation, of course), they agreed readily and without suspicion.  Hawkeye, of course, would have nothing to do with it, "And get sand in my boots?  Right.".  Angela reflected that the ninja was a much wiser man than his larger companions.  Still, her appreciation for Hawkeye's wisdom did not prevent her from summoning Undine to drench the two smelly ones soundly in icy water.  She and Riesz appeared beside the burgeoning sand castle (which Carlie was still intent on building, oblivious to the boys' plight) with soap and towel in hand and grinning.

"Go, and do whatever you bloody well have to to get clean."  Riesz said.  Angela nearly frowned at the curse word- princesses did not curse, not even amazon princesses- but fortunately managed to keep her grin firmly in place.  Duran and Kevin stared at them like they'd suddenly turned into bulettes.  Angela giggled.

"Better find some water, boys, before I find it for you again!"  she told them.  Duran grumbled and snatched the soap from her hand, then the towel.  Kevin accepted Riesz's burden meekly.  The pair of them wandered off into the forest, Duran toting the long mental list of women's failings as they walked.  Pleased with themselves, Riesz and Angela went back to the fire.

"Look!  It's the Temple of Light!"  Carlie had exclaimed.  When she realized that no one remained to admire her creation, she stamped her little foot and glowered.

Now, it was morning, and they were trying to find their way through the forest.  After an interminable amount of time searching through the trees for the hidden elf town that could look like anything, however, Angela decided that it just was not going to happen.

"We've been searching for _hours!_"  Duran complained.  "Can't we bloody stop for a few minutes?  My armor's on all wrong, and I need to readjust it."

"You should have put it on right before we got started this morning, lackwit."  Angela admonished, though she herself was weary enough for five women.  "Carrying on about a few blisters isn't going to get us to Diorre."

Duran ignored her (where had he learned _that_ trick?) and went on complaining, armor clanking louder than a walking skeleton put together wrong.  Riesz glowered at Hawkeye, who glowered at Duran, while Kevin and Carlie walked together a bit ahead of their elders.  Angela sighed.

"Carlie, are we getting close?"  she called up.  The little girl stopped and turned around, frowning quizzically.

"Close, Angie?  Close to where?"

The Eighteenth Princess of Reason howled with frustration, but the trees all around her were not a sympathetic audience.   

Kallalis gripped the bow in her hands hard enough for her tanned knuckles to go white as she stared through the trees at the humans who had come calling in the forest.

_Humans!  Right there!  The arrogance they have to come crawling here with there heavy feet and dry intentions, after all they did to us!  Oh, Shayla…_  The hurt had never really gone, not after fifteen summers, and the sight of those…creatures amongst trees that cried out in pain was beyond bearing.  It took all of her will, and the knowledge that her niece walked with them, to stay her hands from drawing an arrow along her bow's silvered string and fire it to their hearts.  She shook herself and pried her fingers away from the wood.  _No, my orders are clear.  Charlotte is there, guiding them, and I cannot risk harming her._  A thrill of happiness such as she had not felt for years swept through her at that last thought.  At long last, the daughter of her sister was coming home from the human world, scarcely changed by the years that had kept her away.  When she returned, Kalla would bundle her up in wreaths of _diorre_ flowers and stuff her so full of good berries that she would never be hungry again.

Kalla knew the hunger that struck those of fey blood when outside of the trees, the longing that never quite left all too well.  When Shayla disappeared, it had been Kallalis who went searching the world for her sister, with all the blessings of the King of Faerie and kin.  Kalla had returned to the kingdom of Diorre, once so proud and wondrous, to find the remnants of the blessed kingdom of wood in ash.  All that Kalla had found was a sending of the king that told her to come north from the place of death and hatred that was the budding town of Vizel.

Their graves lay at the root of the trees that hid the new, tiny village that held all of the elves remaining to the world of Fa'Diel.  Charlotte's parents, an elf who had been Kallalis' sister, and a human man who had been her friend.  

Kalla followed the group of six silently through the grass, careful of her steps.  At times that filthy man with his long hair and soft clothing nearly caught sight of her, and frowned into the darkness where she lay hidden, but fortunately the noise of his companion's heavy armor hid the sound of her breathing.

_Leroy was blameless, but he is the only one.  I know why Shayla loved him, but I cannot understand why she loved his people._  The screams of her green brothers and sisters, the trees she had grown up beside in peaceful repose, still rang out in her dreams.  _They cut down trees for their homes, instead of living within the branches like decent folk.  And now they abuse the very Goddess herself, taint her with their disgusting thoughts and filthy habits.  Can they not hear Her crying out?_

_Can they not hear Her weep?_

Iris Harahan sniffed loudly at the plans that lay before her.  Though the golems she made ran on magic, she was quickly acquiring contempt for them and their manner of use.  Every improvement she made in programming, in the eldritch armor plating that she covered them with, had turned out to be useless.  The first trial, on the bridge between Maia and Forcena, had been an unbridled disaster, with the horse running away, reins, bit, and all.  Iris had worked tirelessly under orders for the ambush on home turf, and it all came to naught.  Her machine golems had been overwhelmed by three of those dratted Seeds, how in Mana could she ever find a way to combat six?

Still, she was not one to question orders, and Captain had ordered her to manufacture a prototype of machine golem that could be mass-produced to protect the castle, should the Seeds ever try to invade in force.  Privately, Iris thought that Angela alone could take on the entire Army of Reason, and probably never break a sweat, but she followed orders.

"Magesmith Harahan?"  a cool voice called out as Iris turned her wrench absently.  She jerked, and the bolt stripped out under too much pressure.  Fuming, she stood and whirled on the owner of the voice, preparing to give the woman a tongue-lashing she would never forget, but swallowed her words when she saw who held herself regally in the doorway.

Queen Valda, Seventeenth Princess of Reason and Lady of the Ice was a hard woman, but beautiful.  Perhaps the ice in her spine contributed to her beauty, but no man or woman could ever really tell, since the Queen could cow a tavern brawl by sheer force of personality.  Not that Valda of Reason would ever be found in a tavern.  Iris snatched herself out of her impending tirade and bowed at the waist.  "Your majesty, you honor me by your presence.  Light of the Goddess always warm your heart."

She could not keep a tinge of bitterness out of her voice at that last, yet the Queen hardly seemed to notice.

"Peace, Mistress Harahan, and be at ease.  I do not come to strip your hide from your back, though perhaps it should be, for your failure on our own soil.  I have come to assay your progress on the new Machine Golems, since your last attempt was…inadequate."

Iris unbent herself with an effort; she did not much enjoy looking at the radiant face of her queen anymore.  "I am at your service, Majesty."  She replied simply.  Valda sighed frostily as she gazed at the model Iris had been working on.

"This one seems much in the same vein as the others.  Can you not make a golem that is more pleasing to the eye?"

Iris had not thought that much contempt could fill a person's voice.  "The model is made for functionality, not prettiness, Majesty.  Captain Nieva requested a battle golem from me, not a metal maidservant."

"Keep your tongue between your teeth unless it can remain civil, Smith!"

Iris shivered; Valda was sharp when irritated.  The Queen touched the golem on Iris' worktable, and it frosted over, grew brittle, then cracked, shattering into tiny bits.  Iris nearly wept; it had taken days for her to get that model even to some semblance of working order, and she loved it like her own child.

"If I did not need you, Iris Harahan, you would be dead and left for the sahagin to find you.  They use particularly sharp spears when hunting humans, did you know that?"  Sweeping across the room to the door, the queen gave the room one last, disgusted look.  "Begin again, and this time, do not fail."

Then she was gone.  Iris fell to her knees, gathered the fragments of her creation up in a miserable pile, and let her tears fall upon them.


	20. Alfrdaughter II

Alfrdaughter: Part II

"Hello, we're looking for your king…"

Angela trailed off as yet another person with delicate, fluted ears peeled away from her at the fastest walk that could not be described as a run. She ran a hand through her hair impatiently, then cursed as it met resistance in the tangled purple mess that served as her coif.

"We're getting exactly no where with this." Hawkeye remarked callously, and the princess glared at him wrathfully.

"I thought they'd be friendly, since we've got Carlie and all." Duran offered, looking sad at seeing hatred so total on display.

Kevin did not say anything, but Angela knew that it affected him worst of all. They _had_ come expecting a warm welcome.

_Probably hurts the kid even more than when we go through normal towns._

_:I__ don't think you have any idea, Princess.:_ said the faerie, and for once, Angela agreed.

_How do we find the king, Faerie? All of these buildings look exactly the same to me._

She received a mental image of the faerie shrugging her shoulders helplessly. _:They__ call him the Faerie King, but that's just a title now. Elves and faeries lived together once, and it's possible that he is the same elf that ruled back then. The elves left the Holyland long ago, though, and that was before my time, so even if he's the same person, I wouldn't know him if I saw him.:_

_Fat lot of help you are._ Angela "muttered" irritably. The faerie just sighed and retreated into the depths of Angela's consciousness.

"Look!" Riesz said, and pointed. Angela followed the other girl's finger down the rough path that seemed to serve the elves as a street, to see two elves arguing, gesticulating wildly in what appeared to be anger. As the Seeds walked slowly down the path, it became clear that one of them was a woman and the other a man; both with the vibrant brown hair and slightly slanted green eyes that seemed to be uniform among these strange people. Angela couldn't tell what they argued about, since she did not know a shred of Elvish, but it seemed to be something fairly important.

"Mama?" Carlie walked up to the pair, somehow evading Duran's hands as he tried to catch her. The little girl's blue eyes shone with liquid, and her voice quavered. The man whirled on the tiny half-elf, green eyes narrowed in disgust, then, with a last glare for the woman elf, stalked away. The woman did not look at Carlie, instead peering over her to look at Angela. Wordlessly, she bowed and turned to walk slowly toward what appeared to be a gigantic tree, obviously meaning for them to follow her. Angela looked to Hawkeye, who raised a skeptical eyebrow but did not comment. Kevin was silent.

"I think we should follow her." Duran admitted, though he appeared to have doubts as well. "It's not like we have any other ideas. With the way the pointy-ears have been running from us, there's no way we're going to get a better guide than this."

Dejection making her eyes droop and shoulders go lax, Carlie shuffled over to Angela and slipped her hand into the older girl's. Angela nodded to the others and walked purposefully after their reticent guide.

When she reached the tree, the elf knocked politely two times, and a door, so cunningly formed that it had appeared to be part of the tree's bark, opened. She gestured for them to enter with slender, willowy arms.

"Thank you." Riesz said to the woman as they passed by into the tree's confines, but she did not get an answer.

Once inside, Angela was astounded by the fact that the tree's insides looked much like any house might. Oh, the chairs were formed of interlocked roots, and tables were covered with broad, flat leaves instead of cloth, but for the most part, it seemed that elves lived pretty much as others did. Several young elves were seated in those odd root-chairs in the first room, and they glared at the six travelers as Angela and the others passed through.

"Why are you here, humans?" one of them called after them.

"Did you come to take this place from us too?" demanded another.

"Haven't you taken enough from us? Isn't it enough that you killed them?"

Carlie clutched at Angela's hand, and though the princess made soothing noises, the little girl did not relax.

"Come on, Carlie, let's go." Angela told her, and glared daggers at the elves who sat at the tables. They tried to return in kind, but Angela was not Princess of Reason for nothing. The young feykin were the first to look away, and the princess moved into the next room at a stately pace. When one of the elves rose from the table, murder in his eyes, he found a valkyrie's spear in his way, and a knife at his throat.

"Now now, you _really_ don't want to do that." Hawkeye bent the elf's wrist back to relieve him of the strange, slender blade he held. "Go sit back down there with your little friends until we're done chatting with your king, right? You wouldn't want us to be hasty now, would you?"

The young elf spat something unintelligible in Elvish that did not sound complimentary, but did not try to move. Carlie turned about to look at him, her large eyes sorrowful. "Boy have bad, nasty mouth. Hawkie ish nice. Dun say bad things 'bout Carlie's Hawkie, or she punish you!"

Hawkeye thought that he could see a heavy shadow encircling the girl in that moment, wrapping its arms around her in what looked like it was supposed to be comfort. The elf boy the ninja had at knifepoint quavered and bit his lip, but held himself as still as he could; Hawkeye's dagger was very sharp.

"Let him go, Hawk." Angela admonished. "We don't have time for this. If they don't want us here, then it's best we meet with the Faerie King and be on our way."

Hawkeye thrust away the elf roughly, and the youngster promptly raced out of the tree at breakneck speed. In truth, Hawkeye could not find it in his heart to blame these people. Hadn't he hated beastmen without cause, and for more of his life than he cared to think about?

Angela nudged Carlie a bit, and the girl nodded solemnly.

"_Okete__."_ Murmured the tiny priestess, and what appeared to be a wall suddenly opened next to her. The six travelers entered, doing their best to ignore the hard glares that followed them on their way inside.

They were greeted by the sight of what must have once been a beautiful audience chamber, fit to grace any royal castle in any of the five kingdoms. Furniture was not carved, but grown, as if the myriad chairs that lined the entryway were a part of the tree itself rather than shaped at all by elven or human hands. The floor gave slightly beneath their feet, as if it had once been a spongy material like moss. Now it was just an indiscriminate shade of gray-green mess that squished unpleasantly. That Diorre, kingdom of the once proud elves, was in a state of decay could not be doubted when presented with the vanishing beauty of this antechamber.

There was a dais, and upon it a throne, and upon the throne an old, wizened figure of an elf with moustaches longer than he was tall. As the six Seeds entered, he made as if to stand, then fell back into the cushions that covered his throne wearily. Twin boughs of myrtle formed a circlet for his head, mirrored in the designs of the throne he sat in. "Go away. I have no patience left for children. Leave this place, humans." He snapped, but Angela ignored him, walking until she stood exactly ten paces away from the throne; the traditional distance for a figure of royalty seeking audience with someone she considered her equal.

"Are you the Faerie King?" she asked bluntly. _Doesn't look like much of a king to me._ Carlie squeezed her hand softly.

"Of course I'm the Faerie King, child. Now leave. There is not place for humans in the kingdom of the elves."

_:Then__ I suppose that it is fortunate for us that we are not all humans.:_

The faerie's mental voice was deeper, more powerful than Angela recalled ever hearing it, and when she appeared outside of the sorceress' head, she glowed a blinding blue that nearly obscured her form.

"A visitor from the holy land." The King said flatly. "I suppose I should not be surprised. What do you want?" he asked coldly.

_:Advice__, sire.:_

"I do not dally with humans, child. If you wish counsel, perhaps I may be of some help, but not in front of them."

"But we need your help!" Angela interjected. "You don't understand, we're not here to hurt any of your people. We just need to know where to find the spirit of wood."

The king made another attempt to stand, and succeeded this time. "Child, I do not know how you managed to find your way here or how you evaded our defenses, but even if I would tell you of this place, Dryad's whereabouts would not pass beyond my lips. Now go."

_:You__ cannot do this, sire.: _The faerie's glow intensified. The king's thick, pale eyebrow's rose. _:Mana__ has planted her seeds, but it is up to us to give them the sun and water that they need to flourish. Tell us where Dryad hides. I beg of you, tell us.:_

"And if I do not?"

The faerie's aura wavered and her small eyes glowed with the anger she obviously felt. _:We__ all do what we must, sire. If you have forgotten the Goddess so easily, then perhaps you should be…relieved of your position. She may love Her fools as much as her scholars, but right now, there is no time for them.:_

Blue energy entwined around the deity's form in two strands, pulsing rapidly and ominously. Angela took a step back; she had never though that the faerie had the power she felt radiating from that tiny form now. Surprisingly, the king laughed, a hollow, thin sound that rustled up from his diaphragm and whistled out between his moustaches.

"Child, this has been an empty throne to hold since the death of my daughter. For fifteen years I have suffered, as my people have suffered, and all on account of the humans you now accompany. It has been long, too long since the prophecy of the Seeds was cast; it is forgotten, even among my people, who live many centuries." He wavered on his feet, and Angela thought he might fall, but he steadied himself before he toppled. Angela caught a bit of movement from the corner of her eye, and saw that Duran was easing himself back to a resting position. Had he been about to help the old fart? The king shook his head. "The legend is almost gone, yet you speak of it as though it walks and breathes."

_:Sire__, it _does_ walk, and you should not doubt it. When was the last time you met one of my kind? Have you strayed from the Holy Land so long that you no longer remember us:_

"Nay." The King said, and the faerie bristled unaccountably. "A man, a human man I knew not so long ago; he carried one of your kind with him. That one died as he did. His name was Leroy." The old elf's eyes grew milky as he remembered. Beside Angela, Carlie stumbled forward, letting go of the princess' hand. Riesz was instantly behind her, to prevent her from going closer to the elf king, but Angela placed a hand on her shoulder. Carlie stared up at the elder king with shining eyes.

"Papa? Carlie's papa, Mama called him Leroy."

The king snapped out of whatever memory had taken him from the room and looked suddenly at the tiny girl before him. "You are…No. It cannot be. The child, we thought that she died along with her parents."

"No, Father, Charlotte did not perish as we thought." Said a warm voice from behind the six travelers. Hawkeye whipped around, knives ready; even he had not heard this woman come into the room behind him. She gazed at him for a few moments with deep, blue eyes that seemed somehow familiar, and he lowered his weapons, nodding. She walked past him to stand before the throne, staring down the old king coolly. "This is my niece, your granddaughter. Are you so lost in the lies your memory knits for you that you do not even recognize your own kin?"

The Faerie King's rheumy eyes widened as he stared down at Carlie, openly weeping now. "Carlie, is that truly you?"

"That's Carlie's name. But who are you?"

"I told you, child. I am the Faerie King." He sighed. "But more importantly, I am your grandfather. Will you forgive a forgetful old man his eccentricities, young Charlotte?" He drew himself up, seeming somehow stronger than he had when the six travelers first met him, and held out his arms. Carlie leaped up to him, laughing and crying at once, and the woman, her aunt it seemed, looked on approvingly. She turned to Angela, and extended a hand benevolently.

"We thank you for bringing Charlotte home to us, Seeds."

Angela started, then took the hand reluctantly and shook it. "You're welcome, but…"

_:But__ this is not just a homecoming:_ the faerie declared harshly. She floated next to the Altenan princess, her aura gone. She only looked tired, now. _:I__ don't know who you are, but Carlie is one of the ones chosen by Mana to carry out the will of the Goddess.:_

The woman just smiled and let go of Angela's hand gently. "We know." She looked over to the king and Carlie, who were so lost in rediscovering each other that they ignored everyone else around them. "I have learned that she was raised by her human grandfather, the Priest of Light. I am glad; Leroy was a gentle man, if hard, and I cannot imagine his father was anything less."

"The Priest of Light is a good man." Duran assured her. Then the elf's features hardened.

"I am sorry, but humans are yet not welcome here. The only reason you five are not dead is because you were with Charlotte. We would ask that you leave as soon as you can. As you are the Goddess' chosen, we cannot turn you out into the forest, but you will receive cold comfort here, and little hospitality." She paused, lips pressing hard together into a thin line. "I have tried so hard to forgive your people, Leroy's people, for the crimes they have committed against mine, against all the world. For crimes they still pursue. It is difficult, and I still carry hatred in my heart." She took a deep breath and turned back to them. "We will provide you with what you need, and you may stay in my home, but make haste, for your blood damns you in this forest."

With that, she went to join Carlie and the King in their embrace. Angela shivered.

"I don't think I've ever felt so despised before."

Kevin looked anywhere but at her, and Riesz nodded. Hawkeye looked over at the three elves hugging and weeping together.

"They still haven't told us where we're supposed to find Dryad."

Author's Note: Muhahaha...this time I have started writing the next chapter ahead of time! Not that it does me any good, since I doubt anyone will even see this update. Ah, well, that's what I get for not updating in over a year.

Tee-Dubs.


	21. Gilder's Vine

Gilder's Vine

"You may stay the night in my home." The elf woman carried her niece delicately, as though holding a picked wildflower. As if Carlie would wilt if she grew too close, held on too hard. Angela could see a vast, looming sadness in those eyes, somehow blue and green at once, like a wetted jungle. Watching the elf's elegant, graceful movements, she realized just how much sadness pervaded Fa'Diel.

_:More__ than you know, Princess.:_

She started, and Duran frowned back at her, but she just waved him away and schooled her expression to neutrality. _What do you mean, Faerie? I've practically toured the globe. Seen the High Priest of Light, the Starlight Sisters, and everywhere...everywhere, the monsters. I think I've seen plenty of sadness._ She focused her golden eyes on the small child in Kallalis' arms. _More than I want to._

Following the tall elf with slow, even steps, no one spoke. Perhaps they were too afraid of breaking up what time Carlie could spend with the remnants of her family.

_:Such__ is the lot of a seed of the Goddess, specially grown and picked.: _The faerie perched on Angela's shoulder, gossamer wings flicking away small sparks of blue magic every now and then. _:You__ know the stories your companions have to tell:_

They came to one of the odd trees that populated the elven village, and Angela listened to the song Kalla used to open a door in the trunk.

"_Imouto__...imouto...okete kure, imouto ki..."_

_Of course. _she replied as they went inside. _They all told me when I met them._

Kalla showed them where a pool for washing— heated by magic— lay, as well as their rooms.

"I'd like to use the bath first." Angela stated loudly. Riesz nodded, and the boys mumbled in various pitches of assent. Once she had gone inside the chamber, an opaque sheet of sap closed behind her, granting silence as well as privacy. Steam rose pleasantly from the pool, and Angela stripped down quickly. Her red dress was filthy from many days of travel, but she set it aside in favor of the bath.

_:They haven't told you everything.: _the faerie intoned as Angela slid gratefully into the water. The bottom of the pool was smooth stone, curved to fit the body.

"Faerie, I don't need to know everything." She reached over and grasped the first bar of soap she had seen in what seemed like months. The faerie alighted at the edge of the pool and gazed up at Angela, her tiny face grave.

_:Perhaps.: _she said cryptically. _:Perhaps not. You sense the undercurrents of resentment that flow through them; you can't help it.:_

Angela knew exactly what the faerie was getting at. _Hawk and Riesz...they're getting worse all the time. Hawk says he's over his prejudice, but he still won't look Kevin in the eye. Even Carlie's got her problems; Duran babies her all the time._ "No," she told the faerie, working up a good lather between her hands. "I can't. I am what my mother made me, after all." _Unfit for anything but to rule, yet unable to because I have...had no magic._

_:How can you be so calm: _the faerie flapped her wings quickly to clear a few stray water droplets. _:Angela, you must do something. The Seeds of Mana cannot afford to fall away from each other. You can't...:_

"Stop it." Angel barked, cutting the deity off. "Please, just stop. I'm trying to take a bath here, can't you just leave me alone?"

The faerie glared at her reproachfully. _:We don't have time, Angela. Every moment is precious.:_

Angela shook her head and slumped further into the water. "Go bother someone else for a while."

_:Angela! You are their _leader_! If you won't do anything, how can you expect them...:_

"Expect?" Angela rose out of the water to loom menacingly over the faerie. "I don't expect anything out of them. It's you that chose _us_, remember? Goddess, I'm only human! We all are, or near enough it doesn't matter! A band of floating heads and some magic hasn't changed that!" She sat down again, scattering bubbles every which way. "We're tired, faerie. Let us rest tonight. I'll deal with it when I can."

_Why is it that I always seem to be having this conversation!_

Nodding, the faerie bowed and vanished in a flash of blue sparks. Angela sighed and continued to bathe, never noticing the shimmering, azure droplets that lay on the lip of the basin — faerie's tears.

"The king has masked the entrance to Dryad's home amongst the trees. To discourage unwanted 'visitors', no doubt."

Kallalis glared out into the morning gloom toward Hawkeye, who simply shrugged and readjusted his violet collar casually. Angela yawned; the sun had yet to rise beyond a tiny flicker of light above the treeline.

"How did His Majesty conceal one of the Elementals?" Riesz asked. The tall elf turned to regard her coolly. She gave the valkyrie a long, measuring look, then nodded slightly.

"Many ages ago, eons perhaps, by human reckoning, the Goddess granted elves and faeries a pair of twin statues, icons in her image. They were of unsurpassed beauty, molded by Gnome himself, hardened by Salamander's breath, and doused in Undine's tears."

_:I've__ heard of these statues.:_ said the faerie, floating just above Angela's shoulders. It seemed she was going to act as though nothing had happened the night before, and that suited Angela perfectly. _:But__ I thought they had been destroyed, long ago, when the elves fled Holyland.:_ the faerie pressed.

Kallalis's eyes, if possible, grew harder, granite instead of merely ice. Behind Angela, Kevin shivered uncomfortably. "The Faerie lost their gift during Exodus, yes, but elves were not so careless. We brought a tiny bit of the Goddess with us, and now our king has used that blessing to hide the Spirit of Wood in her time of need."

"So he can take down the protection, right?" Duran said bluntly. "He put it up; he can let us in."

Angela shook her head at him, sighing. "I don't think it's that easy, Duran."

The elf opened her mouth to speak, but Hawkeye interrupted smoothly. "Getting a bit ahead of yourselves, don't you think?" Clasping a hand around one of his daggers, he looked significantly over at the elf. "We don't even know how to find this statue, much less break through its protections. You need to cut the history lesson and tell us where it is."

The faerie gave an almost audible mental gasp. _:Hawk__! There's no reason for you to be rude:_

Hawkeye slide a finger up and down the dagger's hilt absently. "You've said it yourself often enough, 'we don't have time'. Well, we don't."

"The forest will show you the way," Kallalis said, her tone chilly, "if it finds you worthy."

At Kalla's side, holding her hand, Carlie shook her head. "No, Auntie Kalla. Forest ish bad now."

Kallalis blinked and looked down at her niece.

"Carlie's right." Angela said calmly. "Don't you feel it? Something about the forest just feels...wrong somehow."

"Smells bad." Kevin murmured, and Carlie nodded encouragingly at him.

Angela glanced about in the dim light, eyes tuned for magic, and she saw little aside from the pale, nauseating green of sickness. Kallalis scoffed openly.

"So you say, but how can I believe what a human says when my own senses tell me all is well?"

"You can't even believe Carlie?" Riesz demanded. Even in the low light, Angela could see dark hemispheres beneath her eyelids. Apparently, the valkyrie had not slept any better than the sorceress. "She's your sister's daughter, why would she lie to you?"

Visibly taken aback, the elf glared venomously at Riesz. "Charlotte, she is young. Perhaps her judgment has gone awry. I cannot believe the forest where I have lived all my life has turned to darkness."

"Yeah, well maybe that's why the Goddess chose Carlie for this, not you." Duran snapped.

Shaking her head, Kalla loosed her hand from Carlie's and turned to walk away. "My answer has not changed. Let the forest be the measure of you all."

_I hope it takes your lives, and brings young Charlotte back to me._

"Where are we _going?_" Angela demanded. They had already been traveling for over an hour, and the fact that it was remained dark didn't help things.

"To see Miss Tree!" Carlie burbled happily. Oblivious to Angela's enraged, heavy breathing, the tiny enchantress hopped along through the underbrush blithely.

"Her name is Dryad." Duran corrected absently. The big knight frowned; had he seen something move in the trees? Carlie ignored him, too, in favor of following whatever trail she seemed to be tracing. He had to admit that there seemed to be a curious force driving the tiny half-elf along, something beyond her usual childish meandering. With Kallalis unwilling (or unable) to guide them, they had to trust in the only elf they had.

Even if she was effectively a five-year-old.

"Miss Tree Miss Tree Miss Tree Miss Tree! Lalalalala!"

Angela resisted the urge to wallop the little munchkin with the hind end of her staff with some difficulty. _If this turns out to be another dead end, though, I swear, I'm going to spank her, fifteen years old or no._

Hawkeye peered over at her, observed her stormy look, and sighed. "Angela, why don't we just follow the red flowers again?"

The princess perked up at the thought; somehow it had slipped her mind. Well, she had a lot on that mind, of course, didn't she? She couldn't be expected to keep track of every detail. "Won't they just lead us back to the village?" she returned, and deflated a little bit. Hawkeye shook his head.

"I don't think so. They're different this time. Don't try taking a whiff; they're not trying to attract us. Just look close."

Angela motioned to Duran, who moved up and distracted Carlie with an impromptu game of cat's cradle. Riesz and Kevin stopped as well, looking over to the Altenan quizzically.

"Hawk has an idea." she explained. Riesz's eyes went hard; Kevin's murky, and Angela just shook her head. It didn't take her long to find one of the flowers in question; a small group was clustered around the base of a nearby tree. They had a macabre air about them, the color of blood just drawn from a wound spliced with a painfully bright blue. In the morning's dim light, they glowed softly, menacingly. She stepped closer, and nearly gagged as the smell of them wofted up to her nostrils. Cursing softly, she whipped away and hurried back to where her companions were standing. "They smell like rotten meat!" she spat, trying to rid herself of the horrible taste the smell had left in her mouth. Hawkeye nodded knowingly.

"I told you not to try to smell them." he admonished, and Angela seriously considered nailing him with her staff.

"I _didn't_ try to smell them, idiot. They just...attacked me."

That seemed the only way to describe it. Resisting the urge to retch, she turned back to look at the flowers. They still shimmered evilly in the darkness, like a grim beacon. "You're suggesting that we follow those? The ones that led to the village didn't smell like much of anything!" _Certainly not like...like that!_

_:The__ taint on Mana has taken hold here too strongly.: _the faerie said unhelpfully from the inside of Angela's head. _:It's__ not too much of a stretch to imagine that those flowers could have changed, even overnight, into what we're seeing now. Besides: _and Angela got the impression that the feykin was just as frustrated as she, _:as much as I hate to admit it, Carlie's getting us nowhere fast. She may lead us to Dryad eventually, but...:_

"But so could a pair of clowns with a cannon." Riesz hissed acerbically. Angela blinked, wondering where that reference had come from. Then, with a sour grimace, she recalled Bon Jour and his "Ultra Deluxe Turbo Sweetheart", or whatever he had called that cannon.

"Fine, but I don't have to like it." she stated firmly. The faerie ignored her. People seemed to be doing that a lot to her lately. It was not a good trend.

_"Bin chob?"_

_"Chob."_

_"Bin chob bin?"_

_"Chob."_

_"Chob..."_

Chobitus Maximus nodded to his subordinate approvingly. Chobillion, the tiny Chobin with wide, fluffy ears had successfully located the humans, perpetrators in this, the great Chobin Forest, and reported back with alacrity. Chobillion bowed her head neatly and vanished into the trees in the way that only the skilled Chobin Rangers could. Chobitus glared out at those trees, cute mouth fixed into what he hoped was something close to a forbidding frown, and contemplated what sort of soup he would make out of the perpetrators. He, the greatest Ranger of the Maximus clan, would wreak havoc upon the backs of the hapless humans.

"_Chob__ chob chob chob chob!"_he gloated.

"_Bin, chobin."_ admonished a dark voice from behind him.

"_Chob__!"_

"Did you see that?" Duran asked Angela. Carlie hopped along ahead of them, apparently still under the impression that she was leading them, though it was actually Kevin's acute sense of smell that kept them on track now.

"See what?" asked the princess, peering into the trees. Dawn had dawned, but she could hardly tell, what with all those blasted trees blocking it out with their canopy. Duran waited for a moment, then pointed surreptitiously at a tree about twenty paces away.

"There. See that?"

Angela squinted. "Yeah, I think I do." she whispered back. Tiny, hooded shapes flitted from tree to tree, mere shadows in the wan light. "What do you think it is?"

"No idea." Duran replied. "But I doubt it's good. Might be the elves." His mouth turned down in a dreadful grimace. "Maybe they decided to hunt us down after all."

"I doubt it." Angela watched for a moment, careful to keep her pace even. _No point in alerting it that we know it's there, whatever it is._ "Elves are just a bit taller than that."

"Like you can tell anything in this foul jungle dim anyway." Duran spat. Hawkeye moved up smoothly, and though he did not look at the shadow shapes, Angela knew that he was as aware of them as she or Duran. She frowned; the Navarran had certainly grown strange since his class change. Very strange. Why on earth did he dress in purple and _green_? _Of all the..._ she cut herself off mid-thought. _What am I doing? We're being shadowed by some unknown thing, and I'm thinking about what that fool thief is wearing? Sod off, Princess._

She thought she might have heard the faerie snort, but since that would have earned the winged irritation a sound smack, one Angela was too nervous to give, she chose to ignore it. Hawkeye walked along next to her for a while, studiously avoiding those dark shapes, then said, too casually,

"You remember that rat infestation at the Golden Road, Princess?"

Angela blinked, and nearly stopped, but the ninja grasped her arm and pulled her along smoothly. Duran coughed politely, and Angela decided to play along. "Yes, Hawk, I remember. Couldn't take a step without running into one."

_Rats? What is he playing at?_

"I seem to recall that they liked the color green quite a bit." Hawkeye continued, and something wiggled at the back of Angela's memory.

_Rats...green...wha...Porobins?_

_:Maybe_ the faerie said noncommittally. _:I'll__ check. Hawk...:_

With a tiny spark of something that was not exactly pain, Angela felt the faerie depart from her head, presumably to enter Hawkeye's.

"My aunt Stella didn't like rats." Duran remarked, just as airily as Hawkeye had. "Said they liked to eat up her couch cushions for no good reason."

"Aw...ratsy-watsies are cute, though!" Carlie admonished, her childish features set into a mockery of disapproval.

_:Not__ these rats.:_ the faerie said, returning to her resting place inside Angela's mind. _:You__ were right, or almost right. They're Chobin Hoods; the forest cousins of the Porobin Bandits that plague trade routes. Hawk's been keeping track of them for a few minutes now; he says they're probably going to attack.:_

Angela narrowly refrained from scoffing. _What? Those little mouse things? They couldn't even get close..._

Something small and sharp whistled past her ear, and she whipped to the side. A quick glance showed Duran protecting his face with a gauntlet, Hawkeye with both of his knives out, and even Carlie looking worriedly at into the trees. Riesz stared at them all like they were crazed.

"What in Mana are you..." she trailed off, eyes closing, and collapsed to the ground. Angela fell to her knees beside the valkyrie and felt up and down her neck swiftly. Finding what she sought, she pulled the tiny needle out of her friend's neck and hurled it to the side. She looked up, surprised to find Hawkeye couched on his heels by Riesz's supine form, facing away from her.

"Is she all right?" he asked. "The poison might have other effects."

Angela shook her head. "I think they just knocked her out." Barring her teeth wrothfully, she whipped started up a wind spell to foul the Chobins' aim, but Hawkeye touched her hand to stop her.

"I've got it covered." he said simply, and suddenly a spray of dark dust sprang up all around them, obscuring their view of the forest. "Get down and move!" he hissed, and Angela complied, pulling Riesz's slack form along the ground laboriously. Every breath she took turned into a cough. _Did your job a little too well, ninja boy._ Angela thought, reluctantly admitting that his little dust trap had given her the cover she needed to drag Riesz to the relative safety of some nearby bushes. The princess could hear the sound of metal hissing through the air all around her. _More of these things._ She fingered the needle that had put out the valkyrie, careful not to prick herself.

"_Chob__ Bin chob chobin!"_

_That sounds familiar..._

_:It__ was Chobins after all.:_ the faerie explained. _:Hawk__ was right.:_

_Well I'll be damned._ Angela replied as she lay overtop of Riesz's prone body to protect it.

_:Let's__ hope not.:_

Hawkeye slid smoothly into the underbrush, oozing along the ground silently despite the myriad of dead twigs, nuts, and other chaff that coated the earth. It was not an easy task, even for someone who had lived on the underbelly of Navarre, but he had help.

_:Like__ water, dearie.: _murmured a soft, bubbly voice, seemingly directly into his ear. _:Just__ like we practiced, remember:_

Undine's presence hung about him, giving him the minute reactions to touch that allowed him to avoid making noise. As he focused on getting to the Rangers unseen and unheard, a memory sprang up, unbidden.

_"You know, for a crybaby, you're awfully good at sneaking around."_

_A vast dune extending as far as he could see and further patterned his dreamscape. Blue sky swept down from overhead, intermingling with white cloud. Clouds made no sense; he was standing in a desert, but they were there anyway. Neither did a blue woman-creature with a tail instead of legs, though._

_"And you," Undine said, scowling slightly up at him, "could be better at it. You call yourself a ninja? I even slipped into your dreams without your noticing it, how do you expect to keep others from doing the same and worse?"_

_He glared right back at her, unwilling to give ground. "The Goddess seems to think I'm worthy."_

_The Elemental scoffed, tossing her hair, a mass of blue and green that changed depending on her mood. Right now, it was dark emerald, nearly black, as the water before a storm. As she flicked those viridian strands back, waves crashed down onto the desert, populating Hawkeye's dream world with water._

_"You communed with only the tiniest scrap of the Goddess, Hawkeye, through a now faulty vessel. It gave you the power, but not the control. Now, let me teach you the ways of water."_

He was grateful for that training now, and for the Elemental's blessing.

_You might just be mice, but you hurt her._

Something moved just a pace away, and the ninja rose up to his knees to cut that tiny throat. A short whistle of air, infinitesimal enough that none but he would hear it, was the only sign that Hawkeye had just murdered the first of the Chobin Rangers.

_No one hurts her._

He could not be sure how long he sat there curled up in the bushes, a big hand clamped over Carlie's mouth to keep her from speaking. His shield, green lacquered iron crossed with gold, lay to his right side, and he did his best to keep his armor from rattling and giving their position away.

_They're just rats! Salamander's balls, this shouldn't be this hard!_ He swore silently. Carlie shifted slightly, and he patted her head with his free hand to try to comfort her. He tried to tell himself that this was Hawkeye's element, but it was only by the barest sliver of will that he didn't shower the clearing with light and dive into the fray.

_Wouldn't do any good._ he assured himself. _The damn things'd just run the hell away. Dammit, they got Riesz, and I can't do a thing about it!_

To his left, he could feel the presence of the wolf/boy, hiding in a shrub nearby. Kevin did not make any noise, but Duran could almost feel his tension seep out. He obviously felt the same way as the knight, and he just as obviously knew that he had to leave this to the only one of them that worked well in darkness.

Well, at least, he thought Hawkeye was the only one. A needle smacked into his armor, making a tiny _ping_, and the little girl in his arms went absolutely still. Pain bloomed in his hand, and he snapped it away.

_She _bit_ me!_ he thought. He felt like he'd been smacked on the top of his head by a pole axe. A heavy one. As soon as he moved his hand away from her mouth, the young enchantress started to chant in that odd, haunting way that Duran remembered from the Moon-Reading Tower.

_"Korz varnag sumentall le.__ Arz ibrik danma."_

Slender tendrils of black energy slipped out from her skin.

_Did I just hear a giggle?_

A sound like a young child's laughter, only demented, broke the silence in the trees, and Duran saw that Carlie's eyes were glowing faintly blue.

"Gremlins will get the bad mousies." Carlie assured Duran. A cry like a small animal dying rang out, and Duran shivered as that horrible child's laugh broke against his ears. Carlie reached over and took his big hand into her own tiny digits. "Carlie is very sorry."

The bite marks on his hand, felt rather than seen, vanished in a nearly invisible spark of healing light, and Duran shook his head.

"You're a scary little girl, Carlie." he said ruefully.

"Carlie ish scary? Duran shouldn't say mean things!"

_:Scary__ indeed.:_ Wisp echoed, and Duran nodded.

Riesz stirred groggily and raised her head, shaking it to rid herself of the odd befuddlement that leadened her limbs and fogged her mind. Or tried to anyway. She managed to lift her body into a sitting position, but none of the grog fled, even when she knocked her open hand against her cheek a few times.

"Stop that." admonished a voice.

"Angela?" the valkyrie murmured mistily.

"Of course it's Angela." The voice was icy, and entirely too loud for comfort.

"Dun be so loud." Riesz whispered. _Goddess, my head feels like Gnome dropped a sack of bricks on it._

_:I__ resent that.:_ came an injured voice in her head, and she winced.

"Oh, don't be such a baby." Angela snapped. Riesz forced her eyes to focus, and she could just barely make Angela's white hair in the low light.

"I said not to talk so loud." Riesz complained. The ground vibrated beneath her, and Angela's angry face whirled about wildly in front of her eyes. "Why's the world spinning to the left?" she asked dizzily. The spinning Princess of Reason frowned.

"You were hit in the neck with a drugged blowgun's needle. You've been out for a while, now." Angela explained, thankfully speaking a bit more softly. Riesz nodded, and immediately regretted it when the world bucked and swayed around her.

"Ugh...I hate the spins." she burbled. When the whirling stopped though, Angela no longer looked annoyed with Riesz; she looked frightened.

"Wuzzit?" the valkyrie slurred.

"The ground...it moved."

Riesz guffawed. "Stop puttin' meh on, Angie. Said I was drugged, din'cha? Dun need ta mess aroun' wit meh."

"No, Riesz, the ground really moved. It wasn't just you."

"Oh. Well then, we're in trouble."

"I'll say."

Riesz looked woozily over in the direction the third voice came from. "Hawk? Ass. Ya did this ta meh, din'cha?" she spat heatedly.

_He gave me this Goddess-cursed headache!_

"Later." the ninja replied, his voice clipped. "Angela, can you tell the faerie to go get the others?"

Riesz shifted her gaze back to the princess laboriously.

"What about those mouse-things-men-whatevers?" Angela asked.

"I took care of it." Hawkeye replied evenly, and Angela shuddered.

"Took care of what?" Riesz mumbled giddily, and the other two just shook their heads.

It didn't take long for the faerie to track down Duran, Carlie, and Kevin, but even in the few minutes it took her to search, the tremors grew worse. As Duran bent over Riesz to drive out the drugs with Wisp's magic, the faerie floated just above his shoulder, bobbing up and down nervously.

_:There__ is an alien force destroying the force.:_ she said, even her mental voice quavering. _:I__ have heard legends, but...I suppose that it is the time that legends walk, and why should we have all the benefit of them:_

Angela scowled at the tiny deity. "What aren't you telling us?"

The faerie dry-washed her minute hands anxiously. _:There__ are tales in the Holyland, tales of an enormous weed that once threatened to devour all of Fa'Diel's forest. No one knows where it came from or how it was created or born, but when it appeared, the people of Fa'Diel were entirely unprepared. Whole swaths of trees vanished overnight, and the earth was wracked with a great trembling.:_

As if in response to the fey's ominous words, the ground beneath them rumbled. _:It__ took the lives of six mages devoted to Salamander and two of Dryad's before finally a pair of twins were able to seal it away. In these dark times, it is not unlikely that it has broken free of its prison here in the greatest forest in the world.:_

"Does it have a name?" Duran asked absently, holding a hand up and sweeping it up and down through the air above Riesz's body, trailing white sparks.

_:Yes__. They called it Gildervine.:_

---

Next Chapter Teaser:

"It's just a bloody flower!" Duran spat as he stalked into the clearing.

"Flower or no," Angela reasoned, "it's what's been causing the quakes."

The ground shook violently beneath their feet, hard enough to rattle teeth.

"I dunno." Riesz said dubiously. "It's big, but it still just looks like a flower."

She ambled over to the flower ostentatiously, ignoring the hand Hawkeye put on her arm to try to stop her. Looking it up and down, the valkyrie inspected the flower closely. Finding only red petals and a few massive, sharp thorns, she whirled back and smiled sweetly at her friends.

"See, nothing's wrong with it!"

_BAM!_

With a blow like a smith's hammer, she was face down, mouth full of dead leaves.

---

Author's Note: Riesz isn't have too good a day, is she? Oh well. Sorry about the lack of actiony bits in this chapter (and the past few, actually), but I'm just happy to be putting out more chapters, period. As always, thanks for your reviews, they are appreciated.

In case anyone wondered, yes, I'm including teasers at the end of chapters. I'm probably going to go back and edit the earlier chapters to make them more "professional", too. Wish I had someone to do that for me...

-TW


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